Eileen Moorman

Beckman-Williamson Funeral Homes & Crematory - Cocoa Beach

Eric Swope

Jim Clarke

Farley Funeral Homes and Crematory - Venice

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Jim “JC” Clarke, a pioneering figure in the development of Vail and one of the most influential ski area planners in Colorado history, died on November 18, 2025, at the age of 88. His vision and work helped shape some of the region’s most iconic destinations, including Lionshead, Beaver Creek, and Arrowhead.

James Pearson Clarke was born on January 9, 1937, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, to Clifton A. Clarke, Sr., and Agatha (Kayton) Clarke. The family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1951, where Jim graduated from high school. He spent two years studying business administration at the University of Connecticut and then decided to move to Colorado, a place he had visited and fallen in love with. He served in the United States Air Force on active duty from 1961 to 1962 and in the reserves from 1962 to 1963.

When Jim arrived in Colorado in January of 1960, he immediately went to work as a lift operator at Arapahoe Basin. During that time, he also assisted the U.S. Forest Service with avalanche mitigation work, gaining hands-on experience that would influence his career for decades. It was at A-Basin that Jim met Dale Gallagher, a Forest Service snow ranger whose unconventional avalanche-control methods later became industry standards.
“I would help with the avalanche control work,” Jim recalled in 2022. “Dale Gallagher handed me this heavy-duty pack and said, ‘Would you carry this?’ I said sure. Then I asked what was in it. He said, ‘Dynamite.’”
After a season as a ski patroller at Breckenridge, Jim was hired at the newly opened Vail ski area in December of 1962 by Don Almond, Vail’s first ski patrol director. His first official day on the job—January 19, 1963—coincided with Vail’s grand opening celebration, a frigid affair attended by state and federal leaders. Jim later recalled gondola cars frozen in place and workers using blow torches to get them moving in time for the festivities.

As Vail expanded in the late 1960s, Jim played a key role in surveying and planning Lionshead Village, marking the beginning of a long career in ski area design. That experience opened doors to larger projects, including the early planning and layout of Beaver Creek, which was being considered as a potential venue for the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Jim eagerly volunteered for the Beaver Creek project, performing fieldwork, creating survey maps, and helping lay out the village. Although Colorado ultimately withdrew from hosting the Olympics in a 1972 referendum, Jim remained deeply involved in Beaver Creek’s development throughout the 1970s. Alongside colleague Bill Yeik, he helped prove the mountain’s viability by collecting snow data—critical evidence that led to the resort’s eventual opening in the 1980–81 season.

Jim’s career was marked by both bold ambition and resilience in the face of setbacks. From the unrealized Meadow Mountain project to a near-opportunity with Walt Disney’s Mineral King development, he experienced firsthand the highs and lows of ski area planning during a formative era for the industry.

In the early 1980s, Jim was hired to plan the Arrowhead ski area west of Beaver Creek. When Vail founder Pete Seibert joined the project in 1985, the two men formed a close working relationship that Jim later described as the most cherished years of his professional life.

“Pete and I would be up there on the hill, flagging ski trails,” Jim said. “He was such an incredible visionary—seeing Bachelor Gulch, seeing Cresta, dreaming it all as we walked.”

Arrowhead opened in 1988 and was later connected to Beaver Creek via Bachelor Gulch, fulfilling much of Seibert’s long-held vision of a European-style, multi-village resort. Jim remained convinced until his final years that even larger connections—once deemed impossible—could someday be achieved with modern technology.
In the mid-1990s, Jim became the manager and caretaker of the newly-established Mountain Star HOA Gated Community in Avon. He worked there until he retired in 2017, at the age of 80. In 2024, Jim moved to Venice, Florida, for health reasons.

Jim “JC” Clarke leaves behind an enduring legacy etched into the mountains he loved and helped shape. Through his work, his stories, and his generosity, he played a vital role in preserving the past while imagining the future of skiing in Colorado. He will be remembered as a visionary, a mentor, a historian, a friend to everyone he met and a true steward of Vail’s pioneering spirit.

JC was the kind of friend who made you smarter just by sitting down with him—and happier by staying awhile. JC leaves behind a wide circle of friends who treasured his stories, his generosity, and his deep love for the mountains and the people who built Vail.

JC was endlessly curious and unfailingly kind. He loved nothing more than a good conversation, especially one that wandered through history, skiing, or the early days of Vail. If you stopped by his apartment in Avon, you were stepping into a living archive—and you were never rushed out. JC made time. He listened. He remembered.

Friends knew him as thoughtful, witty, and quietly passionate. He had a gift for storytelling that never felt self-important, even though he had lived through—and helped shape—so much of ski country’s history. His stories were full of detail, humor, and reverence for the people he admired, especially Pete Seibert and others who shared the original vision of Vail.

JC was also a man of deep integrity and gratitude. Alcoholics Anonymous played a central role in his life—it saved his life—and he was fiercely loyal to the program and its principles. He spoke of AA with humility and respect, crediting it with giving him clarity, purpose, and community. Many of his closest friendships and relationships grew from those rooms, bonds formed through honesty, service, and shared commitment.
Once you were JC’s friend, you were his friend for life. He showed up, followed through, and cared deeply about preserving the legacy of those who came before him. That commitment extended to his service on the board of the Colorado Snowsports Museum, an organization he supported not for recognition, but because he believed history mattered.

Above all, JC loved the mountains—not just as places to ski or design, but as spaces for dreaming, imagining, and connecting. He never stopped believing in what was possible, even when others said it couldn’t be done.
Those who knew JC will miss his steady presence, his sharp mind, his gentle laugh, and the way he made history feel personal. He leaves behind not just a legacy in the landscape, but a lasting imprint on the many friends who were lucky enough to walk a little way alongside him.

Jim is survived by his nieces Sharon Clarke-Washington (Barry) of Salem, NH; Nancy Diamantopoulos (Jim) of Dracut, MA; Connie Davidson (Patrick) of Ottawa, Canada; Dana Hintz (Michael) of Bristol, CT; and Allyson Damiano of Bristol, CT; and his great-nieces and great-nephews who he loved dearly: Lauren, Meredith, Kristin, Debra, Ryan, Stephen, Virginia, Sadie, Hannah, Daniel, Amber, and Tommy. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Virginia, his brothers Clifton and Robert, and his nephew Clifton.

A celebration of life will be held at Donovan Pavilion in Vail on June 8, 2026 (time to be announced closer to the date). In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jim’s honor to the Colorado Snowsports Museum or, if you are an AA member, to the AA General Service Office (GSO).

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Jim JC Clarke Obituary | Altogether