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Former Salt Lake City Mayor, Women's Ski Jumping Pioneer Deedee Corradini Dies

Leslie Thatcher

Former Salt Lake City Mayor and women’s ski jumping pioneer and Park City resident Deedee Corradini died Sunday following a short battle with cancer. 

Deedee Corradini served as the mayor of Salt Lake City from 1992 to 2000.  She was the only female to serve as Mayor of Salt Lake.  Corradini was a pivotal force in the Olympic bid to bring the Olympics to Salt Lake in 2002. Corradini played a vital role in the successful organization of the Games and was a key face of the Utah Olympics.  More recently, Corradini led the charge to bring  women’s ski jumping to the Olympic Games.

A family statement released by Women’s Ski jumping USA read, “Our amazing mother, wife, sister, aunt, friend, and mentor, died Sunday at her home in Park City, surrounded by the light, love, and gratitude of her loved ones. She fought a fierce six-month battle with stage 4 metastasized non-small cell lung cancer (the non-smoking type).  

It continued, “Our lives will never be the same without her, yet we celebrate her legacy with such JOY. We feel her grace, and know she will continue to guide us deeply though her courageous spirit and extraordinary light that lives within us all.”

The U.S. Ski Team and Women’s Ski Jumping USA also mourns the loss of Corradini.  She  adopted the cause of women to join the Olympic program for ski jumping, working tirelessly on Olympic inclusion and in establishing Women's Ski Jumping U.S.A. as a supporting body for the sport and as USSA President and CEO Tiger Shaw said, "Deedee Corradini brought great passion and perseverance to her pursuits, she was a difference maker for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and later instilled a pioneering spirit into women’s ski  jumping that led to its successful Olympic debut and international success of U.S. athletes."

Corradini continued working closely, nearly until the end, with the USSA to help pursue Olympic status and in the continuing quest to provide funding to ski jumping.

World Champion Lindsey Van worked alongside Corradini for years.  She said in a statement, Deedee pushed me, she pushed us all to do more than we ever thought we were capable of. She taught me to be more than an athlete – that I had a responsibility to stand up and make a difference."

Peter Jerome, the founder of Women's Ski Jumping U.S.A., said, "There’s no one else who could have led and made the difference she did. She was a force and was amazing to watch." He said she’ll be deeply missed, but that they are also profoundly grateful that they knew her and experienced the great journey with her at the helm.

Corradini was also the past president of the distinguished International Women’s Forum. She was a Senior Distinguished Fellow in Urban Studies at The Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics and Public Leadership at Furman University, and senior vice president of Prudential Utah Real Estate. She was also the former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Details about the celebration of her life will be released soon. Friends and supporters are urged to email their thoughts and condolences to Women's Ski Jumping U.S.A at wsjusainfo@wsjusa.com for inclusion on a public memorial page at wsjusa.com.

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