Earl Eaton, helped create Vail resort

Earl Eaton, a prospector who spotted the potential of a nameless Colorado peak in 1957 and helped transform it into Vail Mountain ski resort, has died. He was 85.

Eaton, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, died last Sunday at his home in Eagle, Colo., his family announced.

“If it hadn’t been for Earl discovering the mountain, there likely wouldn’t be a Vail today,” said Chris Jarnot, chief operating officer of Vail Mountain, a division of the company that grew from Eaton’s seven-hour scouting trip.

With his friend Peter Seibert, Eaton had searched since 1947 for the ideal site to develop a new ski area. While pausing during the eight-mile ascent through deep snow, Seibert said: “My God, we’ve climbed all the way to heaven.”

“It gets better, Pete,” Eaton responded, according to Seibert’s 2000 book, “Vail: Triumph of a Dream.” At the summit, Seibert wrote, “we looked at each other and realized what we both knew for certain,” Seibert wrote. “This was it!”

Pretending they were founding a rod-and-gun club, they began buying land for $110 an acre at the foot of what would become Vail Mountain, which opened on Dec. 15, 1962. The Vail name was for a nearby mountain pass.

Seibert always gave Eaton credit for his crucial role. “I’m the founder of Vail,” Seibert said, “but Earl is the finder of the mountain.”

Joseph Pevney, ‘Star Trek’ director

Joseph Pevney, who directed some of the best-loved episodes of the original “Star Trek” television series, has died. He was 96.

Pevney died May 18 at his home in Palm Desert, said his wife, Margo.

Pevney directed 14 episodes of the 1960s series, including “The City on the Edge of Forever,” in which Capt. Kirk and Spock travel back in time to the Depression, and “The Trouble With Tribbles,” in which the starship Enterprise is infested with cute, furry creatures.

Pevney loved the series, said his son, Jay. “He was surprised at the longevity of it because it was not a popular series at the time; it hit its real popularity (in syndication) after it was over,” he said.

Pevney directed with precision and was highly organized “but he was very relaxed – in fact, jovial – in the way he directed,” said George Takei, who played Sulu. “I enjoyed working with him.”

Earle H. Hagen, composer, whistler

Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic “Harlem Nocturne” and composed memorable themes for “The Andy Griffith Show,” “I Spy,” “The Mod Squad” and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for “The Andy Griffith Show,” died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.

He and Lionel Newman were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie “Let’s Make Love.”

For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for “That Girl,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”

“He loved it,” his wife said. “The music just flowed from him, and he would take off one hat and put on another and go on to the next show.”