Ted Ehrenberg, 62

Ted Ehrenberg peacefully passed away at his home after a year-long battle with metastatic melanoma on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010.

Ted was born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany in 1948 and moved to Pittsburgh when he was five years old. As a child and young adult, he spent weekends fishing on the Allegheny River with his parents. In high school he was a gymnast, and went to Penn Hills High School.

He graduated from Penn State University in 1970 with a degree in business administration and finance and was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma.  After graduation, Ted decided to drive his VW Bug to Vail, Colo., and worked in Pepi Granschammer's ski shop, then as a carpenter, and ended up building some of the first condos in Keystone. As Vail got bigger, he heard about Whitefish and the Big Mountain, and moved to Whitefish 35 years ago. He shared a property at the base of Big Mountain Road with Jim Poplawski, worked as a carpenter and then later as a general contractor. From 1979 to 1990 he was married to Bonni Pace and they shared many happy years together.

He met Joan Vetter on a sailboat in 1991 at North Flathead Yacht Club, where they raced for 10 years. He had left construction and became a real estate appraiser during this time. In 1995 Joan and Ted were married at their home in Hidden Valley. Katelyn Janney Ehrenberg was born three years later. Five years ago, Ted became a project manager for Glacier Bank and finally reverted to carpentry, the job he loved most. Ted was a wonderful Dad to Katelyn, a loving husband, avid fly fisherman and alpine skier. He was always busy working with wood or getting the boat ready to go fishing.

He is survived by his wife, Joan; daughter, Kate; father, Theo; mother, Gerda; and many relatives in Germany.

In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to The Katelyn Ehrenberg Education Fund - A Roth Account, at Glacier Bank, 6195 U.S. 93 S., Whitefish.

The memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 4, at  All Saints' Episcopal Church at 2048 Conn Rd., (across from Dillon Road off Montana 40). A reception will follow from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Grouse Mountain Lodge, 2 Fairway Drive in Whitefish.