Aspen mourns loss of Crown

Jim Crown was hailed Monday for 30 years of leadership at Aspen Skiing Co. that helped repair a frayed relationship between the company and town and bring stability after ownership turmoil.

Crown, 70, died Sunday in a single-vehicle crash at the Aspen Motorsports Park, also known as the Woody Creek racetrack. He was managing partner of Aspen Skiing Co., which is wholly owned by his extended family, and the chairman and CEO of Henry Crown and Co., a Chicago-based company with diverse holdings.

The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash with aid from Colorado State Patrol. Jim’s father, Lester, told the Chicago Sun-Times for an article on Monday, “He was driving a race car, and it hit a wall going around a curve.”

The sheriff’s office is the lead agency in the investigation..

“There won’t be more about the crash until the end of next week at the soonest,” said Parker Lathrop, the sheriff’s office chief deputy of operations.

The investigation poses unique circumstances because it was on a racetrack, Lathrop said.

“The only difference for us,” Lathrop said, “because this happened on a racetrack, and there aren’t many racetracks around, it’s a little different that what we see, so we brought in CSP to help us because they have crash expertise. And with them, they don’t see this either. So we want to make sure with that aspect that we’re doing the best we can and be as accurate as we can.”

Jim Crown took on the managing partner role when his family took full ownership of SkiCo on March 24, 1993. John Norton, a SkiCo executive at the time, said Crown’s influence on the company is “almost incalculable.”

“The investments the family made were incredible when you consider how little investments were made during the Marvin Davis era,” Norton said.

Over the 30 years, SkiCo has undertaken massive overhauls of the base of Snowmass Ski Area and Aspen Highlands with partners and completed the remake of the Buttermilk base last season. Only the Lift 1A base on the west side of Aspen Mountain has proved elusive. The Crowns also made a steady investment in new lifts, restaurants and other on-mountain improvements.

Norton said Crown was a decisive leader who worked well with upper management of SkiCo.

“He would give direction and then let the team determine how to get where he wanted to go,” said Norton, who ascended to the position of chief operating officer before he left Aspen for Crested Butte in 2002.

Bill Kane worked as vice president of planning and development for SkiCo from 1995 to 2006 and worked closely with Crown on some major developments during that period.

“There’s so much to say, but it’s a heartbreaker for this valley,” Kane said. “What a tragic loss for our valley. Jim was just a special person.”

Crown was a critical thinker who thoroughly reviewed information about the company’s issues and was effective at setting priorities, Kane said. But he also brought a “human touch” that added to the effective leadership, according to Kane. For example, he signed off on the Deep Temerity chairlift at Aspen Highlands even though it was a large cost for a marginal business gain.

“He said, ‘You get one irrational decision every five years and this is it,’” Kane recalled with a laugh.

Crown could also acknowledge when a mistake was made. The snowboarding ban on Aspen Mountain was the “wrong call” that was corrected for good starting with the 2001-02 season, he once told reporters.

Kane labeled it “utterly extraordinary” that a resort company of Aspen Skiing Co.’s stature has remained family-owned in an era when consolidation has swept the industry.

The Crowns bought into Aspen Skiing Co. in July 1985 and helped bring stability after seven tumultuous years. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., a publicly held company, purchased 100% of outstanding shares in SkiCo in June 1978. Oilman Marvin Davis bought the film company in June 1981 and took Aspen Skiing Co. private.

Davis packaged SkiCo with other assets in September 1981 and sold a 50% interest to a subsidiary of Aetna Life Insurance. That 50% interest was sold to Miller-Klutznick-Davis-Gray in December 1983. Davis continued to hold the other 50% through Twentieth Century Fox.

When Davis shopped his 50% interest in the company in 1985, Crown family friend Tom Klutznick encouraged them to buy into the company. The Crowns made the purchase but, as newcomers to the ski industry, they stayed largely out of operations. In 1993, the Crowns consolidated ownership by purchasing the 50% interest from Miller-Klutznick-Davis-Gray.

Jim Crown took over the managing partner role from Tom Klutznick and held it for 30 years. While the company and segments continued to occasionally bump heads over issues, the general consensus is that the relationship improved with the Crowns in control of the company.

Kane said Jim Crown was an effective managing partner because he was a passionate skier and had long-term vision for the company.

“Jim was such a delight to work with even when he chewed you out,” Kane said.

Former Aspen Mayor Bill Stirling witnessed the transformation from a strained relationship while he was in office to one that steadily improved when the Crowns took on 100% ownership after Stirling was out of office.

In the mid-1980s, Stirling objected to SkiCo’s lift ticket and pass prices. “I sort of got sideways with the ownership of the company,” he said.

Stirling was asked to speak at the grand opening of the Silver Queen Gondola and worked in a comment to the effect of, “too bad not everyone can afford to ride the gondola.” That made for an uncomfortable ride up the first car with Klutznick, SkiCo’s then-president Jerry Blann and Dick Lamm, then Colorado governor.

Stirling left office in 1991 but has remained engaged in Aspen civic issues. He said he found Crown much more approachable than prior SkiCo leadership. The company has “cemented” its relationship with the town, he said, and become a leader in environmental issues.

“I would really attribute that to Jim Crown,” Stirling said. “He brought the ski company much more in touch with the town.”

While most of Crown’s contact was with upper management of the company, employees on all levels were feeling the loss Monday. Employees in various capacities, who didn’t want to be quoted, expressed a sense of shock and sadness of Crown’s death. That extended to former colleagues such as Kane.

“I guess we’re all just sort of stunned,” he said, adding that he wonders how Crown’s passing will affect the direction of the company.

Aspen Skiing Co. released this statement Monday: “We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news. Our hearts go out to Paula and their children and the entire Crown family. We are still processing this news and it’s hard to express what Jim has meant to each of us at Aspen Skiing Company. For the last 38 years Jim’s vision and leadership has set the path for this organization. His compassion and deep sense of values will leave a lasting imprint on each of us and on the future of our organization. We will mourn, and we will carry on in Jim’s honor as he would want us to do.”

After familiarizing themselves with the ski industry, the Crowns embraced it. In addition to enhancing SkiCo, the family’s company teamed with KSL Capital Partners in 2017 to form Alterra Mountain Co., which owns multiple resorts and partners with others to offer the Ikon Pass to compete against Vail Resorts and its Epic Pass. The Crowns have thus far kept ownership of Aspen-Snowmass and its four ski areas separate from Alterra.

Melanie Mills, president and CEO of Colorado Ski Country USA, a state trade association, said in a statement, “Colorado Ski Country USA and our member resorts wish to extend our most heartfelt condolences to the Crown family upon the passing of Jim Crown. Today, our thoughts are with our colleagues at Aspen Skiing Company and with the entire Aspen Snowmass community as we process the news. Jim Crown was a visionary and generous leader and today we are reflecting on what a kind and personable man he was in all our interactions.”

Crown’s involvement in Aspen extended beyond SkiCo. He was a member of the Aspen Institute board of trustees and chairman emeritus. His biography with the institute said he was chairman and CEO of Henry Crown and Co., which has vast holdings in public and private securities, real estate and operating companies. He served as the lead director of General Dynamics Corp. and was a director of JPMorgan Chase.

He served as co-chair for the Illinois Finance Committee for former President Barack Obama’s campaigns. He had previously backed Obama’s bid for U.S. Senate.

Barack and Michelle Obama released a statement Monday that said the Crowns had become “some of our closest friends.” The statement said of Jim Crown, “His generosity of spirit, his eagerness to help — that’s something we got to know up close. When Barack was still an unlikely candidate running for the U.S. Senate, Jim became one of his fiercest advocates and most perceptive advisors. He believed in our family, and worked hard to convince others across Chicago that they could, too.”

Michelle Obama spoke at the Crown’s house in Aspen in July 2011 to raise funds for her husband’s 2012 presidential re-election bid.

Crown’s political connections carried over to President Joseph Biden’s administration. Crown and his wife, Paula, were among the invited guests for a state dinner held at the White House June 22 for Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, according to a White House news release.

Jim and Paula have four children, Torie, Hayley, W. Andrew and Summer Crown. A statement from the family said plans for a memorial will be released at a later time.

Scott Condon, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer