Gary Black Jr., founding chair of the board of advisors of the University of Vermont (UVM) Rubenstein School of Environmental and Natural Resources and longtime publisher and CEO of Ski Racing International, died February 25, 2017 at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Black served as chair of the board of the then School of Natural Resources (SNR) at UVM from 1993 until 2000 and continued as a member until 2007. As a parent of two UVM graduates (Amanda ’93 and Serena ’95), he was also a member of the UVM Parents Fund Committee and the University’s Ad Hoc Campaign Advisory Committee.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Black graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and served in the National Guard. He began his professional career with The Baltimore Sun, purchased by his grandfather, Van Lear Black, in 1915. Black learned all aspects of the newspaper business from his father, Gary Black, Sr., who was chairman of the board of the A.S. Abell Company, publisher of The Baltimore Sun.
An avid outdoorsman, lifelong skier, and member of the National Ski Patrol, Black left the newspaper in 1984 and purchased Ski Racing magazine following the 1984 Olympics. He moved to Waitsfield, Vermont and began his career as a leading voice of alpine ski racing for more than twenty years. The magazine is now available in digital format as SkiRacing.com.
In 1995, Black moved to Sun Valley, where he joined the International Ski Federation (FIS). He served on the board of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and was instrumental in the startup of the Sun Valley Ski Academy.
Black received several journalism awards, including the Blegen Award, the FIS Journalist Award, and lifetime achievement awards from the International Association of Ski Journalists and the International Skiing History Association. At the time of his death, Black was chair of the board of the Abell Foundation, the largest private foundation in Maryland, and was a trustee of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Foundation.