Jan William Leonard
Jan William Leonard
1946 ~ 2015
Jan Leonard, beloved husband, father, and friend passed away on August 26th, 2015. Jan was born in 1946, in Cumberland, Maryland to Richard Leonard and Alice Sheirer Leonard, whose deaths have preceded Jan's.
Jan married Cheryl Russell in 1975 and they have two wonderful children Allison (Kyle) Bygott and Stephanie (Steve) Leonard. In 2008, Jan married his loving wife Kay Bauer and wholeheartedly accepted her daughter, Allison (Ammaron) Witman as his own. Jan is also survived by his brother Kim Leonard; sister-in-law Marion Leonard; and grandchildren Kalie Lanik Leonard and Devin Bygott.
Jan graduated from Penn State as a Civil Engineer in 1968 and began working at American Bridge in Pittsburgh. After a destiny-setting skiing excursion to Killington Resort in Vermont, Jan joined Hall Ski-Lift Co. in 1971. He was enamored with the design and construction of lift transportation which eventually led him to join Thiokol Logan Division's ski lift program in 1974.
In 1976, Jan and another engineer at Thiokol, Mark Ballantyne, started Cable Transportation Engineering Company (CTEC) with the intent to provide engineering services to the cableway industry. CTEC bought Thiokol's designs when they exited the ski lift business in 1977 and produced its first lift in 1978 at Seven Springs in Pennsylvania.
CTEC went on to produce 149 chairlifts, detachable chairlifts, and gondolas in the United States, Canada, Argentina, and China. It employed up to 450 people and became the only surviving domestic lift manufacturer from an initial field of seven. In 1993, CTEC merged with Swiss manufacturer Garaventa. Jan was president of CTEC, Garaventa CTEC, and Doppelmayr USA (when Garaventa merged with Doppelmayr of Austria).
In 1985, Jan and Mark Ballantyne started American Building Supply, which led to the establishment of the charitable foundation ABS Foundation in 2003. ABS Foundation has since donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charitable entities in the areas of education, youth activities, social welfare, and arts and cultural endeavors.
In 2008, Jan, Dave Metivier, and Alan Hepner started SkyTrac, which handles engineering projects and builds ski lifts. Since its founding SkyTrac has completed over 111 ropeway engineering projects and ski lifts.
Jan is one of the most respected cableway engineers, if not the foremost cableway engineer of all time in North America. His immense contributions and passion for the ski industry will assuredly be missed by his friends and associates in the industry.
In his personal life Jan loved adventure; skiing and multi-day river rafting excursions were family traditions. Jan was always a source of levity, famous for finding various shapes in the canyon rocks (nobody else ever saw the infamous cheeseburger) and passionately arguing over Thanksgiving tables that no good music came from any decade after the 1970s. With Kay, Jan traveled the world, frequenting Italy (and returning wine home to Utah "for medical research only"), riding elephants in Thailand, rafting the Grand Canyon, wine tasting in California, biking through France and along former railroad canals in the eastern United States, and all the while collecting mismatched souvenir wine glasses.
Jan also grew up with a love of classic cars and trains. Over the years his hobbies included restoring classic cars and taking cross-country train trips with his father. Jan was a long-time member of Wasatch Presbyterian Church.
Jan was also a lover of pound puppies, most recently Tipper and Bella. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Humane Society of Utah or the National Ability Center (which empowers individuals of all abilities through outdoor sports) located in Park City, UT.
Jan's sudden passing has devastated friends and family. He was loved by all who had the privilege to know him. Jan's life will be celebrated at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 S. 900 E. in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, September 1st from 6 to 8PM. Complimentary valet parking will be available at the north entrance. A future event to recognize his industry achievements will be held in the Salt Lake area this fall.