Joe Zoline

Joseph T. Zoline was the Founder of the Telluride Ski Resort.

Born 1912 in Chicago, the child of Ukrainian immigrants, Zoline grew up in an era in which the Great Depression shaped its survivors very strictly. Exuberant, athletic and intellectual, he excelled at school and went on to work his way through the University of Chicago where he gained highest honors both as an undergraduate and at the Law School.

In 1939 Joe married Janice “Jebby” Kahnweiler, and from then on, for the 59 years of their marriage until her death in 1998, they were the closest of partners. She played a profound part in all of his creative endeavors.

Joe worked immensely hard. His appetite for work, and the brilliance of his legal thinking, became well known. He rose to the top of his profession as a corporation lawyer with the firm Friedman,Zoline, and Rosenfeld. This opened other business opportunities, and he became the chief executive for several forward looking enterprises. He was Executive Vice President and Treasurer for Hilton Carte Blanche,the financial wizard creating one of the first ever credit cards; he was President and Chairman of the Board with MSL Industries for several years; and, for a fascinating year, President of Thoroughbred Racing, Inc.,which ran Chicago's two largest race tracks, Arlington and Washington Parks. He and Jebby had also, since 1955, owned a ranch in Aspen. They lived there for the summer months every year, and visited in the winter. It gave them a good firsthand understanding of mountain life, and mountain communities.

In 1968, when Joe first came to Telluride, the town was a shadow of its former self. The population was under 500. These were the hard core, the ones in love with the mountains, the ones who stayed. But the future of mining looked grim, and the future of tourism was altogether uncertain. The town might have gone under completely, as many did — the Ghost Town Club of Colorado had already made some expeditions to Telluride; its members thought Telluride was well on its way to Ghost Town status.

All this is where Joe’s University of Chicago liberal arts vision came into play. He understood very clearly that the changes he was instrumental in bringing about would transform the very fabric of Telluride, economically, culturally, and environmentally. He and Jebby spent most of this period in Telluride. Joe took the greatest care in every aspect of planning and execution, from 1968 when he began, to 1978 when he sold a controlling interest in the Ski Area.

When Joe said world-class, he meant it. He hired French Olympian skier Emile Allais to scope out the ferociously difficult terrain and resolve lifts and runs into a coherent ski mountain. He hired the best ecologists and environmental planners to protect the mountain. He recognized the extremely high level of local talent and ability in colleagues like Billy Mahoney and Johnnie Stevens, he utilized it and supported it. Joe had learned many lessons in Aspen, both what worked and what didn’t. He particularly regretted the sprawl that Aspen had generated, and wanted Telluride to avoid making the same mistakes. He invoked historical preservation and county zoning to help make sense of future growth. He even imagined and laid the foundation for the Mountain Village and the Prospect Basin expansion.

Joe knew that the arts and culture were critical to Telluride’s future, and gave his support to the Telluride Film Festival and other organizations. He had great respect for the Telluride locals who had stuck out the hard times, and went out of his way to try to make sure that they shared in the benefits of the town’s rebirth. He passed away, at the age of 92, in September 2004.