Sydney businessman collapses on Aspen Mountain, dies

David Coe
Photo by Louise Kennerley

The man who presided over one of Australia's most colossal corporate collapses died skiing on Aspen Mountain on Monday.

David Coe, former chairman of the Allco Finance Group, died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and the manner of death was natural, the Pitkin County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.

He was 58.

The Sydney businessman was also a lover of the arts and a noted philanthropist.

Coe presided over Allco as it rose to glory in 2006 with $5 billion in stock value, before nosediving two years later, a billion dollars in debt, and a victim of the global recession.

The Australian reports there is an outpouring of emotion following Coe's sudden death.

Ski patrollers tried to resuscitate him on the mountain. He was pronounced dead at Aspen Valley Hospital a short time later.

Coe was married with three sons.