The city is flanked by two massive ski resorts, Powder Mountain and Snowbasin which hosted the downhill, combined, and super-G races during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
He also became the focus of controversy after Congress voted in 1998 to force the U.S. Forest Service to allot lands to Mr. Holding to help Snowbasin expand.
In 1984, he bought Snowbasin Resort, less than an hour's drive northeast of Salt Lake City, and built it into another top skiing destination that served as the host for downhill skiing races in the 2002 Olympics.