January 12, 2006 (Rossland, B.C.) – The first week of February is a bittersweet time for the Leon family in Toronto as it marks the passing of 54-year-old Jerry Leon who died suddenly in 2004 in Montana’s backcountry just days into his annual winter pilgrimage to Red Resort in Rossland, B.C.

The 12 brothers and sisters who belong to the family that controls Canada’s largest retail-furniture corporation has come to embrace this time of year. In fact, they use the anniversary of Jerry’s death to draw strength from the memories of an Ontario native known for giving equal doses of love to friends, kinship and the great Canadian outdoors.

And, that bottomless source of affection was largely spent in places like Rossland. According to Shawn Leon, one of Jerry’s surviving brothers, Jerry visited this outdoorsman’s paradise for 30 consecutive years in order to visit with friends and ski the gladed steeps of Red and Granite Mountains in southeastern B.C.’s renowned “Powder Triangle.”

“In many ways, Jerry represented everything that’s so special about this part of the country,” Shawn said recently. “He absolutely loved this place — and it loved him. We wanted to do something to make sure that Jerry was someone that Rossland could hold onto forever.”

Following Jerry’s funeral in February 2004, several Leon family members flew to Rossland to memorialize their loved one and see — many of them for the first time — a part of Canada where Jerry had spent so much of his adult life. There they discovered an unspoiled, mountainous landscape that had everything an outdoor adventurer could ever want, just as Jerry had described after returning each spring to his life in Ontario as a jockey and horse trainer, among other professional pursuits.

The Leons were so taken by the warmth and beauty of the Rossland community that they recently invested financially in Red to contribute to a 15-year revitalization effort at the destination resort, the oldest in Canada. The hard-working, hard-playing Ontario family purchased a parcel of land where, beginning early next year, an 18-unit condominium building called Morning Star will be created at Red’s base area.

The family believes the project offers the best opportunity to honor their brother’s passion for Red while it enables other outdoor rereationalists like Jerry — who worked for several winters at Red as a bartender and with the resort’s ski patrol — to embrace the unique Rossland experience.

While Shawn Leon spends several weeks a year in Rossland formalizing the real estate business deal with Red owner Howard Katkov, as well as visiting newly found friends in Rossland, more than 30 members of the Leon family will visit the resort this January to ski at Red and perform work on the Morning Star development. The building is expected to open in the winter of 2007.

Murney Luchka, a long-time Rossland native and friend of Jerry Leon, noted that there are many striking similarities between his own community and the extended Leon family. “When the Leons come to town now, they bring so many members of the family, it’s one big party. They’re a close-knit family, so the Leons fit right in here in Rossland, despite their roots being all the way across this country,” he stated.

Luchka commented that Jerry Leon had been planning to sell his home in Toronto and move to Rossland full time before his unfortunate accident in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. “With the Leons’ commitment to this community and Jerry’s legacy being secured through the Morning Star building, we all feel the he’s still around here. That makes me very happy,” Luchka added.

About Red Resort
Red Resort, in southeastern British Columbia, is 10 minutes north of the Canada/U.S. border within the community of Rossland and five minutes from its downtown core. The resort offers an infinite number of runs that descend 2,900 vertical feet (884 meters) through best-in-the-world tree skiing and wide-open glades of untouched powder.