Vail Daily obituary: Eric Rosenquist, June 7, 1959, to May 18, 2017 Eric Rosenquist, a longtime resident of the Colorado Mountain community, died in San Francisco on May 18, 2017. The son of Charles and Margaret Rosenquist, Eric was born in Rockford, Illinois, on June 7, 1959. The family moved to Vail in 1970, and Eric graduated from Battle Mountain High School in 1977 and Colorado College in 1981, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. An avid skier, Eric loved the outdoors and worked for Vail Associates as a lift operator and snowcat driver. After completing college, he went hiking in Nepal for the first time, returning to Katmandu a few years later. He finished industrial design school in Denver and soon began his career in food-service facilities design for Cini Little International. In 1987, he was transferred to San Francisco, where he met Debbie Jeffers, his future wife. Eric continued at Cini Little until 1997, when he and a partner launched their own business for a two-year period. He then retired. Eric and Debbie married in 2000, and nine years later, they moved to Colorado, fulfilling a longtime desire to be back in the mountains. A resident of Eagle since 2009, he kept his connections to the Bay Area. Eric received his pilot's license in 1978, and he and his father Charlie would take turns as pilot and sailplane operators at Black Forest Glider Port in Colorado Springs. He continued flying with his dad, and in 1987, they flew the Paris-Peking Race together. A longtime HAM radio operator, Eric enjoyed chatting with radio buffs from all over the world and was an amateur radio club member in Colorado and California. Eric cared deeply about people, his community and the outdoors and worked as a search and rescue volunteer. He took his love of skiing to great heights by skiing more than a million vertical feet on Vail Mountain in 2013-14. He was a gun aficionado — as collector, maker of his own ammunition and member of the Eagle Valley Rod and Gun Club. Eric is survived by his wife Debbie Rosenquist, of Eagle; his son Chase Rosenquist, of Truckee, California; his mother Peg Rosenquist, of Eagle and Tucson; sister Gretchen, of Live Oak, Florida; niece Sealia Thevenau, of Montpellier, France; nephew Charles Thevenau, of Fort Collins; and Cristian Swanson, of Key West. Eric was predeceased by his father, Charles, in 2009. There will be a memorial service June 24, at 2 p.m. on Vail Mountain at Mid-Vail. Guests can meet at the bottom of Gondola One from 1:30 to 1:45 p.m. http://www.vaildaily.com/news/obitu...y-eric-rosenquist-june-7-1959-to-may-18-2017/
