ASPEN, Colo. -- A memorial service will be held today to honor retailer, attorney and former school board member Jon David Seigle, 56. Seigle died Feb. 27 in an avalanche while skiing with a guide in the French Alps.
Seigle owned the Basalt Store and gas station in Basalt, Colo. He had completely remodeled the store last year, putting in an Internet caf a and smoothie bar, according to a report in The Aspen Times News.
Seigle was born on June 17, 1949, in Syracuse, N.Y. He attended Union College, where he met friends [image-nocss] with whom he would eventually move to Aspen. He graduated from the University of Colorado Law School and moved to Aspen in 1975 to open a law practice. Eventually, Jon shifted away from the law to business. He became involved in numerous local enterprises, including the Basalt Store, The Cowen Center and the Red Rock Diner, according to a report in the Aspen Daily News.
"In all of our minds, he was the most unlikely person in our [ski] group to even be hurt," Mike Flynn, a close friend and member of Seigle's daily Aspen Mountain ski group, told the Times News. "For us to think of Jon not being here because of a ski accident is incomprehensible because he was by far the most safety conscious."
Friends remember Seigle as being particularly kind and thoughtful; he knew all the lift operators on Aspen Mountain by name and would bring gifts to them on the last day of the season. Others in the c-store industry remember Seigle as a savvy and ambitious retailer.
He is survived by his wife, Liz Stewart, and two daughters, Missy, 19, and Grace, 16, as well as many other family members and friends. Today's memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. at the Aspen School District Theatre, followed by a reception.
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