H Devereaux Jennings, a member of the 1948 U.S. Olympic ski team and an early booster of the Olympics for Utah, has died in New Hampshire at 75.
Mr. Jennings died Friday in Waterville Valley, N.H.Mr. Jennings was on the 1948 team at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
In World War II, Mr. Jennings was a member of the 10th Mountain Division, a special-services unit trained in wintertime warfare. He fought in two campaigns to drive German armies from northern Italy.
In the second, his platoon leader, Lt. Robert Dole, was gravely wounded. They reconnected years later when Dole campaigned for president.
After the war, Mr. Jennings returned to Utah where he founded Sporthaus, a sports, fashion and ski shop near the University of Utah.
In early 1966, Mr. Jennings was part of a team of government and business leaders who went to Rome to pitch Salt Lake City for the 1972 winter Olympics. Sapporo, Japan, won the bid.
In 1970, Mr. Jennings moved to Waterville Valley, N.H., where he was named executive director of Waterville Valley Associates, a consortium of ski resorts in New England. He was elected to the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1989.
Graveside memorial services are tentatively planned for April 30 in Waterville Valley.