The Vail (CO) Daily
Feb 05, 2024
Rod Slifer, a ‘true Vail original,’ embodied the spirit of the town and the mountain
Slifer, who died Saturday at 89, made a meadow into a mountain town with his warmth, wit and wisdom
Rod Slifer was not a statue-in-the-town plaza kind of guy. In fact, he cringed at the plaza being named after him at all. Or the ski run. Or a book being written about him. Or any of the many honors and recognitions bestowed upon him for more than 61 years of relentless service to Vail the town, Vail the ski area, Vail the global mountain escape and the Rocky Mountain state of mind.
Slifer — born Oct. 11, 1934, and raised in the Eastern Plains farm town of Brighton, Colorado — brought that small-town friendliness and work (and play) ethic to Vail in May 1962 to help Vail founders Earl Eaton and Pete Seibert realize their dream of a great ski mountain. In the process, he became the living embodiment of a welcoming, collaborative, community-first ski town.
On Saturday evening, Feb. 3, Rod Slifer let go of the great gondola car in the sky and landed in bottomless Back Bowls powder for eternity at the age of 89. He is survived by his inestimable wife, Beth, whom he married on Nov. 1, 1983, in Manhattan, his devoted daughter, Adi, her husband, Alex Biegler, and two grandsons, Walker and Preston.
“I will never stop missing him,” Adi Slifer wrote en route to Florida, where Rod died of heart failure in Jacksonville after a bout with pneumonia that started on Nov. 8. “I will think about him every day. I will also never stop trying to be like him. We could all benefit from trying to channel a little bit of Rod Slifer in our daily lives. Vail and all of us who loved him will never be the same again, but his impact resonates far beyond the years he spent on this earth and the world is a better place because he was a part of it.”
Twice named Vail mayor during his 16 years on the Vail Town Council spanning the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s, Slifer also started the first property management company in Vail, pulled the first local real estate license, founded one of the state’s most successful real estate companies in Slifer Smith & Frampton and helped found the mountain-centric Alpine Bank network. But his greatest accomplishment was touching so many lives as a genuine, open and mischievously funny friend.
“He really cared deeply about everybody equally — anybody and everybody that he knew — and it wasn’t an abstract for him,” Beth Slifer said by phone on Monday. “It wasn’t like a philosophy or something. It was just anybody in his circle, he cared about. It was amazing. And everybody was in his circle that he came into contact with. They touched his life, and it was really a two-way street.”
Beth noted that Rod didn’t particularly want to be memorialized in the book, “Rod Slifer & the Spirit of Vail,” that came out last year, but eventually got with the program and was genuinely stunned by the turnout at a September book signing at the Colorado Snowsports Museum & Hall of Fame.
“He was surprised at how many people would stand in line to get him to sign a book,” Beth Slifer said. “And he enjoyed knowing how many people loved and respected him. That was such a gift. Most people never know that. If it happens, it happens at their funeral. So it was a real gift.”
He just always did the right thing’
The book details Slifer’s pioneering fortitude in helping to raise a great ski area out of the muck of a muddy sheep pasture — everything from forming planning commissions to passing the hat for the Vail Interfaith Chapel to endlessly supporting the arts and lifting up community nonprofits. But Beth feels his good nature, easy charm and unwavering code of ethics left the most lasting mark on Vail.
“He just always did the right thing, whether it was to his benefit or not, and it turned out so many things ended up being to his benefit, but that was never the way he calculated it. And then Adi also said that he always stood firm in his pursuit of honesty, fairness and compassion,” Beth added. “That sounds unrealistic, but he just did. It was not a conflict for him to do this thing or that thing. He just always did the right thing.”
Beth said people from around the world have been reaching out: “I’m hearing from everybody; it’s just really quite heartwarming. Of course, (Vail hotelier and restaurateur) Sheika (Gramshammer) just reached out and identified with losing Pepi, which is so appropriate. They were the last of the early guys.”
Another of those early Vail guys who has since passed, Morrie Shepard, maybe said it best after he brought Rod, then 27, over from Aspen to ski instruct and help construct a from-scratch ski area called Vail: “The best thing I ever did for Vail was bring Rod Slifer with me.”
And Rod, also at home on the beach in Jacksonville, Florida, was trying hard to get back to Vail to ski and keep making his mountain home a better place. Though he had been intubated and was in a rehabilitation hospital, when the doctors asked if he wanted to take medicines and keep on fighting, Beth said he inevitably answered: “Why not keep going? There’s more to do.”
“And I think that’s the story of Vail that they all had: don’t quit, just keep going. And oh, by the way, when you finish digging the ditch for the sewer, go have a lot to drink and a party and start over the next day,” Beth laughed. “He kept asking the nurses for scotch. They would give him ice chips, and he would always say, ‘Well, can’t you put a little scotch on the ice chips?'”
But Rod made it clear that, while he loved time on the beach in Florida, and would be OK leaving the hospital for the beach house, he had just one primary home: “Oh, Vail, for sure.”
‘Nice guys can do just fine’
Maybe the most Beth part of the story — for those who know how determined the Slifer Designs founder can be — is how she said her final goodbyes on Saturday. She had just left Rod at the rehab hospital when she got the call he’d been transported to a downtown hospital ER. Arriving within 30 minutes, she was told to wait for the doctor in a small room.
“I said, ‘Well, this is crazy, the doctor is going to come tell me he is already dead and I want to see him. And so I snuck in,” Beth said. “You know how those doors automatically open with a pass? So I left that little tiny room and I snuck in when some nurse was going through. And, of course, they didn’t tackle me, and I found his little room and I just sat with him for 30 minutes, which was so special.”
Mitch Whiteford, a Vail realtor and the son of Casino Vail club pioneer and rollicking ski-partier Bill Whiteford, offered these poignant comments on Rod to Beth and Adi: “I was so lucky. I knew Rod my whole life — or at least I do not remember not knowing him. What I remember (not in any particular order):
“A man whose geniality was from his heart.
“His keen wit — and observation. Especially when I least expected it.
“His living proof that nice guys can do just fine.
“Him stopping by my office when you were in Vail. Always a welcome lift to my day and always interesting.
“His confession to me that Alpine Bank was a much bigger win than Slifer Smith & Frampton.
“His grace.
“His giving back — termed out twice as Mayor?!? So many other involvements.
“His evergreen love for skiing.
“His memory for when Vail was really Vail.
“His story of the financial close call with the Utah locals soon after you married (a reference to a failed venture in the 80s with Vail founder Pete Seibert at Snowbasin).
“His love for his dogs.
“His love for you two.
“The twinkle in his eyes.
“We were all lucky to have Rod in whatever capacity we had him. He filled his life with accomplishments and friends. We will always miss him and he will live always in our memories.
Slifer — born Oct. 11, 1934, and raised in the Eastern Plains farm town of Brighton, Colorado — brought that small-town friendliness and work (and play) ethic to Vail in May 1962 to help Vail founders Earl Eaton and Pete Seibert realize their dream of a great ski mountain. In the process, he became the living embodiment of a welcoming, collaborative, community-first ski town.
On Saturday evening, Feb. 3, Rod Slifer let go of the great gondola car in the sky and landed in bottomless Back Bowls powder for eternity at the age of 89. He is survived by his inestimable wife, Beth, whom he married on Nov. 1, 1983, in Manhattan, his devoted daughter, Adi, her husband, Alex Biegler, and two grandsons, Walker and Preston.
“I will never stop missing him,” Adi Slifer wrote en route to Florida, where Rod died of heart failure in Jacksonville after a bout with pneumonia that started on Nov. 8. “I will think about him every day. I will also never stop trying to be like him. We could all benefit from trying to channel a little bit of Rod Slifer in our daily lives. Vail and all of us who loved him will never be the same again, but his impact resonates far beyond the years he spent on this earth and the world is a better place because he was a part of it.”
Twice named Vail mayor during his 16 years on the Vail Town Council spanning the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s, Slifer also started the first property management company in Vail, pulled the first local real estate license, founded one of the state’s most successful real estate companies in Slifer Smith & Frampton and helped found the mountain-centric Alpine Bank network. But his greatest accomplishment was touching so many lives as a genuine, open and mischievously funny friend.
“He really cared deeply about everybody equally — anybody and everybody that he knew — and it wasn’t an abstract for him,” Beth Slifer said by phone on Monday. “It wasn’t like a philosophy or something. It was just anybody in his circle, he cared about. It was amazing. And everybody was in his circle that he came into contact with. They touched his life, and it was really a two-way street.”
Beth noted that Rod didn’t particularly want to be memorialized in the book, “Rod Slifer & the Spirit of Vail,” that came out last year, but eventually got with the program and was genuinely stunned by the turnout at a September book signing at the Colorado Snowsports Museum & Hall of Fame.
“He was surprised at how many people would stand in line to get him to sign a book,” Beth Slifer said. “And he enjoyed knowing how many people loved and respected him. That was such a gift. Most people never know that. If it happens, it happens at their funeral. So it was a real gift.”
He just always did the right thing’
The book details Slifer’s pioneering fortitude in helping to raise a great ski area out of the muck of a muddy sheep pasture — everything from forming planning commissions to passing the hat for the Vail Interfaith Chapel to endlessly supporting the arts and lifting up community nonprofits. But Beth feels his good nature, easy charm and unwavering code of ethics left the most lasting mark on Vail.
“He just always did the right thing, whether it was to his benefit or not, and it turned out so many things ended up being to his benefit, but that was never the way he calculated it. And then Adi also said that he always stood firm in his pursuit of honesty, fairness and compassion,” Beth added. “That sounds unrealistic, but he just did. It was not a conflict for him to do this thing or that thing. He just always did the right thing.”
Beth said people from around the world have been reaching out: “I’m hearing from everybody; it’s just really quite heartwarming. Of course, (Vail hotelier and restaurateur) Sheika (Gramshammer) just reached out and identified with losing Pepi, which is so appropriate. They were the last of the early guys.”
Another of those early Vail guys who has since passed, Morrie Shepard, maybe said it best after he brought Rod, then 27, over from Aspen to ski instruct and help construct a from-scratch ski area called Vail: “The best thing I ever did for Vail was bring Rod Slifer with me.”
And Rod, also at home on the beach in Jacksonville, Florida, was trying hard to get back to Vail to ski and keep making his mountain home a better place. Though he had been intubated and was in a rehabilitation hospital, when the doctors asked if he wanted to take medicines and keep on fighting, Beth said he inevitably answered: “Why not keep going? There’s more to do.”
“And I think that’s the story of Vail that they all had: don’t quit, just keep going. And oh, by the way, when you finish digging the ditch for the sewer, go have a lot to drink and a party and start over the next day,” Beth laughed. “He kept asking the nurses for scotch. They would give him ice chips, and he would always say, ‘Well, can’t you put a little scotch on the ice chips?'”
But Rod made it clear that, while he loved time on the beach in Florida, and would be OK leaving the hospital for the beach house, he had just one primary home: “Oh, Vail, for sure.”
‘Nice guys can do just fine’
Maybe the most Beth part of the story — for those who know how determined the Slifer Designs founder can be — is how she said her final goodbyes on Saturday. She had just left Rod at the rehab hospital when she got the call he’d been transported to a downtown hospital ER. Arriving within 30 minutes, she was told to wait for the doctor in a small room.
“I said, ‘Well, this is crazy, the doctor is going to come tell me he is already dead and I want to see him. And so I snuck in,” Beth said. “You know how those doors automatically open with a pass? So I left that little tiny room and I snuck in when some nurse was going through. And, of course, they didn’t tackle me, and I found his little room and I just sat with him for 30 minutes, which was so special.”
Mitch Whiteford, a Vail realtor and the son of Casino Vail club pioneer and rollicking ski-partier Bill Whiteford, offered these poignant comments on Rod to Beth and Adi: “I was so lucky. I knew Rod my whole life — or at least I do not remember not knowing him. What I remember (not in any particular order):
“A man whose geniality was from his heart.
“His keen wit — and observation. Especially when I least expected it.
“His living proof that nice guys can do just fine.
“Him stopping by my office when you were in Vail. Always a welcome lift to my day and always interesting.
“His confession to me that Alpine Bank was a much bigger win than Slifer Smith & Frampton.
“His grace.
“His giving back — termed out twice as Mayor?!? So many other involvements.
“His evergreen love for skiing.
“His memory for when Vail was really Vail.
“His story of the financial close call with the Utah locals soon after you married (a reference to a failed venture in the 80s with Vail founder Pete Seibert at Snowbasin).
“His love for his dogs.
“His love for you two.
“The twinkle in his eyes.
“We were all lucky to have Rod in whatever capacity we had him. He filled his life with accomplishments and friends. We will always miss him and he will live always in our memories.
Vail Valley Foundation
OUR COMMUNITY SAYS GOODBYE TO A LEGEND: ROD SLIFER
Date: February 7, 2024
Author: Tom Boyd
Slifer passed away peacefully February 3
The Vail Valley Foundation was saddened to learn of the recent passing of one of our organization’s founders, Rod Slifer.
Slifer was one of Vail’s original founders, arriving in Vail in 1962. His contributions to the early days of Vail Mountain made him a legend in our community but he didn’t stop there. He went on to be a major contributor to virtually all areas of life in our community through tireless support of a wide array of causes and initiatives, including significant support, leadership, and vision, provided to the Vail Valley Foundation.
Rod is a Colorado native and holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Colorado. Rod served as a member of the Vail Town Council for 16 years and the mayor of Vail for 12 years. He is a founding director of Alpine Banks of Colorado, director of Colorado Open Lands, and is one of the founders of the University of Colorado Real Estate Center and Real Estate Foundation. Slifer was also an early member of the Eagle County and Vail Planning Commissions and Recreation District. In recognition of his dedication to the Vail Valley, Rod Slifer was named Vail Business Person of the Year in 2013 and was named one of Vail’s 10 most influential citizens, also in 2013.
Together, Rod and Beth were named Vail Valley Citizens of the Year in 2009. Rod served as the Vice Chair of the Vail Valley Foundation Board of Directors from 1985 to 2022, and became a Life Trustee on July 1, 2022.
The story of his life is told in a recently-published book, “Rod Slifer & the Spirit of Vail.”
VVF President Mike Imhof sent this message to our VVF staff, Board of Directors, and VVF community:
It is with difficulty and sadness that I inform you that Rod Slifer, our dear friend, esteemed board member, respected mentor, and community leader passed away February 3.
Rod’s positive influence and contributions to this community, the Vail Valley Foundation, and so many other organizations, is beyond measure. We will be forever grateful to Rod for his visionary, unwavering commitment to this beautiful community that we call home.
There are a handful of people who we can say were true founders of our Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas, and who made significant contributions toward making our Valley one of the most special places on earth for everyone who is a part of this remarkable community.
We are grateful to have known him. We wish his wife, Beth, his daughter, Adi, and their family, peace during this difficult time.
The Vail Valley Foundation was saddened to learn of the recent passing of one of our organization’s founders, Rod Slifer.
Slifer was one of Vail’s original founders, arriving in Vail in 1962. His contributions to the early days of Vail Mountain made him a legend in our community but he didn’t stop there. He went on to be a major contributor to virtually all areas of life in our community through tireless support of a wide array of causes and initiatives, including significant support, leadership, and vision, provided to the Vail Valley Foundation.
Rod is a Colorado native and holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Colorado. Rod served as a member of the Vail Town Council for 16 years and the mayor of Vail for 12 years. He is a founding director of Alpine Banks of Colorado, director of Colorado Open Lands, and is one of the founders of the University of Colorado Real Estate Center and Real Estate Foundation. Slifer was also an early member of the Eagle County and Vail Planning Commissions and Recreation District. In recognition of his dedication to the Vail Valley, Rod Slifer was named Vail Business Person of the Year in 2013 and was named one of Vail’s 10 most influential citizens, also in 2013.
Together, Rod and Beth were named Vail Valley Citizens of the Year in 2009. Rod served as the Vice Chair of the Vail Valley Foundation Board of Directors from 1985 to 2022, and became a Life Trustee on July 1, 2022.
The story of his life is told in a recently-published book, “Rod Slifer & the Spirit of Vail.”
VVF President Mike Imhof sent this message to our VVF staff, Board of Directors, and VVF community:
It is with difficulty and sadness that I inform you that Rod Slifer, our dear friend, esteemed board member, respected mentor, and community leader passed away February 3.
Rod’s positive influence and contributions to this community, the Vail Valley Foundation, and so many other organizations, is beyond measure. We will be forever grateful to Rod for his visionary, unwavering commitment to this beautiful community that we call home.
There are a handful of people who we can say were true founders of our Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas, and who made significant contributions toward making our Valley one of the most special places on earth for everyone who is a part of this remarkable community.
We are grateful to have known him. We wish his wife, Beth, his daughter, Adi, and their family, peace during this difficult time.
