On Sep. 16, 2025, Robert Redford passed away at Sundance Mountain Resort, Utah. His passing sent shock waves through both the local and acting community as fans and friends mourn his passing. He took part in so many famous and influential movies, either in front of or behind the camera. He also helped create a community of local skiers, snowboarders, filmmakers, and artists of all sorts in founding Sundance Mountain Resort.
Redford founded Sundance in 1969 as a melting pot for creatives, nature, and skiing and helped make a community for the arts, athletes, and like-minded people. Pretty recently, the resort changed ownership, Redford sold it to Broadreach Capital Partners and Cedar Capital Partners in December of 2020. When Redford still owned Sundance, he visited often and always reached out to employees, from the restaurant managers, to the lifties. My Dad, Devon Child Sr., worked there in the early 90’s and recalls a few stories with him. “Redford was always very kind, even to me, the lowly shuttle driver for Sundance. I drove him and his Hollywood buddies around more than once. I also ran into him and Paul Newman a couple of times on the resort, once near Mandan Summit, they were on horseback and me on my mountain bike.” says Child. It’s so cool to see how such a big star could even care so much about people like my dad.
Way before the founding of Sundance, Redford was an acclaimed actor. He acted in great movies such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, (which he named his resort after), The Sting, and Sneakers. I was raised on these movies, and I started skiing Sundance around the age of 9, so Redford has always impacted my life.
It’s quite sad to see such a legend go, but many will agree that he did more than enough in the long time he had contributing to so many people’s lives. His family also reported that he passed very peacefully at his home in Sundance, completely surrounded by loving friends and family, at one of his favorite places in the world. Best wishes to his family, and I hope that he will continue to influence people, be it through his films or through Sundance.
