Jack E. Nagel, 78; was Olympic skier

SEATTLE -- Jack E. Nagel, a leading ski coach who was on the US team in the 1952 Winter Olympics and raised two daughters who also competed in world meets, died March 11. He was 78.

Mr. Nagel died at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, where he was being prepared to undergo surgery, his family said. He had a heart attack about three months earlier on the slopes at the Schweitzer Mountain ski area near his home in Idaho.

He made the US ski team for the Winter Games at Oslo in 1952.

Settling in Washington state, he coached hundreds of aspiring racers at Stevens Pass and Crystal Mountain. The resort north of Mount Rainier National Park opened in 1962.

Among his top students were his two daughters by his first wife, Donna. The older, Cathy, won three gold medals in the World University Games in Germany. The younger, Judy, won medals on the World Cup circuit and nearly won a gold at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France.