Thomas Corcoran Obituary

Thomas A. Corcoran CHARLESTON - Loving father, husband and grandfather, visionary and master developer of Waterville Valley Resort, Town Selectman, transatlantic sailor, and two-time Olympian, Thomas Armstrong Corcoran passed away Tuesday, June 27, 2017 in Charleston, South Carolina at the age of 85. An accomplished ski racer on the U.S. Ski Team in the 1950s, past chairman of the National Ski Areas Association, and founder of New Hampshire's Waterville Valley ski resort, Corcoran was one of the most decorated skiers of his era, moving on to become a pioneer in the ski resort industry, and a longtime director of the U.S. Ski Association. He was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1978. Corcoran was born Nov. 16, 1931 in Yokohama, Japan and grew up in St. Jovite in Quebec's Laurentian Mountains. He attended Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire followed by Dartmouth College, graduating in 1954. After graduation, he spent two years in the Navy, active duty as a LTJG, posted to destroyer escort, the USS Howard D. Crow out of Newport, Rhode Island. In 1955 the Navy allowed him to try out for the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team in Cortina, Italy, which he made. They sent him to Chile and Argentina to train. Corcoran entered the Harvard Business School in the fall of 1956 and took leaves of absence to participate in the 1958 FIS World Championships in Bad Gastein, Austria and several other races throughout Europe. He returned to Harvard Business School for his second year and tried out for the 1960 Olympic Team in the winter of 1959, which he also made. He earned his master's degree from Harvard Business School in the spring of 1959. As a competitor between 1954 and 1960, Corcoran competed for the U.S. in both the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, won four U.S. national titles, twice won Aspen's Roch Cup, plus Sun Valley's Harriman Cup, the Parsenn Gold Cup, Silver Belt, the Kandahar of the Andes, and the Quebec Kandahar. His most brilliant performance was in the 1960 Olympics at Squaw Valley in Giant Slalom. Starting 24th, he came within six-tenths of a second from becoming America's first man to win a medal. His fourth-place finish was the best for an American in Giant Slalom for 42 years, until Bode Miller won silver in 2002. In 1962 he was offered a job as Assistant to the President of the Aspen Skiing Company to do feasibility studies of skiing at Buttermilk Mountain and Snowmass, plan Aspen's first comprehensive marketing program, and reorganize the ski school into a profit center. He was also asked to coordinate a ski vacation for Robert F. Kennedy and his wife, Ethel, their children, and recently widowed Jacqueline and her two children. Corcoran served as their private mountain ski guide. That relationship developed into a lifelong friendship with the Kennedys. In 1964, he took a leave of absence and returned to the east coast to help Robert F. Kennedy with his successful New York state senatorial campaign. Corcoran's interest in politics came from his uncle, Tommy 'the Cork' Corcoran, who was the leading architect and lobbyist for much of the legislation establishing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, including the Securities Act of 1933, the Federal Housing Administration Act of 1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission Act of 1935, the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935 and Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. In 1965 Corcoran left the Aspen Skiing Company to complete his search for a New England ski area that he could expand or build. He returned to New Hampshire to form Waterville Company and purchased 425 acres at the base of Mt. Tecumseh, which included the old Waterville Inn, a small rope-tow ski area on Snow's Mountain, a 9-hole golf course, tennis court and swimming pool. Corcoran had his sites on the much bigger Mount Tecumseh and secured the appropriate approvals from the Forest Service for the development of the ski area at the base of that mountain. He formed and opened Waterville Valley Resort in the winter of 1966-67, and quickly attracted skiers from around the region, including the Kennedy family. The resort became a favorite for the Kennedys and their children. "Bobby's Run" was named for Kennedy after his assassination in 1969. "Tom Corcoran was a real catalyst behind the prominence of alpine ski racing when I was growing up in the 1970s and '80s in New England," said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw. "He was the consummate visionary and volunteer for our sport - always looking at ways he could give back." After his retirement from Waterville Valley in 1999, Corcoran and his late wife Daphne A. Corcoran, made Seabrook Island, South Carolina their home. They sailed several sailboats named Snow Dance all over the Coast of Maine and up into Canada, competed in the 750-mile Marion to Bermuda Race and in 1999 they started and completed a 4-year circumnavigation of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea that covered 20,000 sea miles, visiting 26 countries and over 200 ports of call, stretching from Turkey to the Lesser Antilles. His wife, Daphne, passed away on February 11, 2017. He leaves behind four children by his first wife, Roberta Waterston Britton, Michael P. Corcoran, Christine Corcoran DeStefano, Kathleen A. Corcoran and Kerry Gaillard Corcoran; two stepchildren, Linda Fogg Noyes and Daphne M. Fogg; two grandchildren, Sam and Silver Brelsford; three step-grandchildren, Emily Grunow, Katherine Enos and Wyatt M. Fogg; and two great-step-grandchildren John E. Grunow and Hope K. Grunow. Thomas Corcoran's family welcomes donations in his memory to the International Skiing History Association, the Marolt Athlete Endowment of the US Ski and Snowboard Association, or to Waterville Valley Adaptive Sports. A memorial service will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, August 12, 2017 next to the Town Square in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire to celebrate his life and accomplishments, with festivities to follow celebrating the Town of Waterville Valley's 50th Anniversary, where Corcoran was elected to serve as Town Selectman for 35 years, the longest serving Selectman in New Hampshire. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston