Gene Moser

Gene Moser
1928 ~ 2015


Gene Moser, 86, of Park City, died March 15, 2015, due to complications resulting from a stroke, passing peacefully with his family at his side and at the conclusion of his favorite song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful Life"… well timed! Gene's rich and varied journey ended where it began -- in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Gene was born to the late Howard and Edna Moser in Albuquerque on October 14, 1928. After graduating from Albuquerque High School in 1946, he began his career as a cowboy and rodeo clown. He met the love of his life, LaVerne, in 1948 at a rodeo dance in Estancia, New Mexico, and married in 1950 (yes, that is 64 years of marital happiness!). Gene stayed in the rodeo business until 1953 when he decided, after getting banged up a number of times by one-ton Brahma bulls, that he needed a safer and more dependable job to support his young and growing family. The next phase of his career began when he joined Mutual of Omaha insurance company, moving his family to Toronto, Canada. Throughout his 36-year career with Mutual, Gene and his family moved several times throughout the Midwest before settling in Park City in 1977, where he lived the remainder of his life. While vacationing in Albuquerque, he was exposed to and became enchanted with hot-air ballooning and became a balloonatic, eventually co-founding the Autumn Aloft balloon rally in Park City in 1985, which ran for the next ten years. After retiring from Mutual of Omaha as a regional director in 1989, Gene decided to give politics a try and successfully ran for Summit County Commissioner in 1990, winning the election by a "landslide" margin of less than 10 votes. Along with his colleagues on the commission, Gene helped bring growth management and progressive planning practices to Park City and Summit County. After one term as commissioner, Gene decided to retire from the commission to pursue other interests and began working for the Utah Local Trust from 1995 through 2009, sharing his passion of politics by helping to educate planning and zoning officials throughout Utah. His work for the Trust was recognized by the Utah Chapter of the American Planning Association who created the Gene Moser Award, which is presented annually to elected public officials who have made an outstanding contribution to public planning.
Gene is survived by his wife, LaVerne, and three children, Sue Clement (Bill) of St. Louis, Dan Moser (Helen) of Salt Lake City and Pam Strasser (Fred) of Park City. He is also survived by four grandchildren, Shannon Leifson (Jake), Kyle Strasser, Christina Moser, Katherine Moser; and four great-grandchildren.
Joined by his friends and colleagues, we will certainly miss Gene's commitment to family, great wit, outgoing nature, natural curiosity about people, rich stories, playful political bantering, quest for knowledge and passion for land/water preservation and good governance. A deeply honorable and personable man, Gene's passing leaves a large void in our hearts; however, as Leonardo DaVinci is quoted as saying, "As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death."
A service followed by a celebration of Gene's "wonderful life" at St. Mary's Catholic Church (1505 White Pine Canyon Rd., Park City) on Wednesday, April 15, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Please bring your favorite story of Gene to share. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Summit Land Conservancy at www.wesaveland.org or a worthy cause of your choice.