People
Collection for person entities.
Pages
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- Merv Lapin
- Merv Lapin grew up in South Carolina and Alabama. After acquiring a BSME in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lapin earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1963, Lapin drove his small, standup trailer (replete with bed, bath and propane heater) to Aspen, but discovered Vail en route. During his early days of Vail, Lapin bused tables and worked as a waiter, night auditor and bookkeeper. In 1967, Lapin traveled through Soviet Bloc countries by Volkswagen van. Based on life-long friendships he created, Lapin founded youth hockey exchanges with Communist Russia and later with China. While fulfilling a contract to set up a national youth hockey program in China, Lapin witnessed the mayhem of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident in Beijing. Lapin also guided the US Women’s Ice Hockey team to China to play in international tournaments. Inspired by his parents and a beloved uncle, Lapin developed a remarkable career in entrepreneurship, finance and community service. In 1969, Lapin founded Vail Securities Investment, Inc. In the early 1970s, he worked with Troster Singer, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs to create a telephone-based electronic stock market platform that eventually evolved into NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations). Lapin served on the Vail Town Council and as Mayor Pro Tem between January 1987 and December 1995. Lapin also served on numerous boards in Vail and Eagle County, as well as treasurer for several nonprofit organizations, including 52 years with the Eagle Valley Community Fund. Lapin is honored with a flagstone in Vail Memorial Park. Merv Lapin is married to Laine Abbott.
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- Merwin Harrison
- Merwin was born in Kansas and went to school in a one room schoolhouse south of Broomfield, CO. He married his Junior/High school sweetheart, Lucille, in 1937. Merwin was a rural mail carrier. He spent time working at the Ordinance Plant during WWII before enlisting and doing his active duty in Hawaii.