PROVO — A controversial businessman who built the original Seven Peaks Water Park was shot to death last week in a California bed and breakfast establishment.
Funeral services for Victor Borcherds, 60, who died last Wednesday are planned for this Wednesday in the Pauba Ward LDS meetinghouse in Temecula, Calif.
A death notice by Miller-Jones Mortuary identifies Borcherds as a "self employed consultant for 42 years."
Borcherds was shot and killed in an apparent property dispute.
Police have charged Louis Joseph DiBernardo, 59, of Menifee, Calif., with murder in connection with the shooting. DiBernardo also faces charges of kidnapping in connection with his actions against Borcherds' wife, Suzanne, who investigators believe was in the Castle Bed and Breakfast when the killing occurred and not allowed to leave.
DiBernardo owned the bed and breakfast in which the Borcherds were living. There were no guests registered at the time of the shooting.
In the 1980s and '90s, the Borcherds were high-profile Utah County residents, financing the water park and a golf course, as well as purchasing the struggling Provo Excelsior Hotel, now the Provo Marriott. Borcherds' main goal, never realized, was to build a ski resort on Maple Mountain.
"He was a major shaker in the community and he was trying to do some major things when there were some difficult financial times," said Leland Gammette. "He was very much of a risk taker."
Perhaps too much. The Borcherds, natives of South Africa, built the park in 1987 with loans from Southern American, a company Victor Borcherds purchased in Tennessee and moved to Utah. State insurance officials, however, determined the loans violated state regulations and seized all assets purchased with Southern American funds to help defray more than $1 billion in claims. The Borcherds and a handful of companies they formed filed for bankruptcy.
While in Utah, the Borcherds lived in a "23,000 square foot home with an indoor swimming pool on over 100 acres of land in Alpine," according to the blog of his son, Gareth. The Borcherds were active in the community and hosted events for the American Fork High School Band in their home.
"They were strong supporters of the band," said John Miller, band director. "His wife was the band booster president and he covered my expenses for my first trip to the Bands of America Grand Nationals the year before we took the band there."
Borcherds is survived by his wife, Suzanne; sons Meent and Gareth Borcherds; daughters, Siranda Smith and Ashna Harmon; father, Meent Borcherds and mother, Martha Borcherds; and eight grandchildren.
e-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com