The son of John L. Kemmerer, Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Halbach, Kemmerer was raised in Short Hills, New Jersey. His father was Chairman of the Kemmerer Coal Company, which was established by Mahlon S. Kemmerer and Patrick J. Quealy in 1897. Diamondville, Wyoming was the site of their first mining operation, and was the “company town,” while the City of Kemmerer was founded as the “independent town” located south of the mines. Kemmerer is also notable as the location of the first J. C. Penney store, and the home of the Fossil Butte National Monument. At its height, the Kemmerer Coal Company had the largest open pit coal mine in the United States, and served three local power generating plants of Utah Power & Light. Kemmerer graduated from Salisbury School in Salisbury, Connecticut in 1966, where he was awarded varsity letters in football, ice hockey, and baseball. He then attended Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, and earned a Bachelor of Science of Business Administration - Finance from the University of Denver in 1970.
Career
Kemmerer worked for Chemical Bank in New York from 1974 – 1977 before joining his father at The Kemmerer Corporation, and leading the sale of the Kemmerer Coal Company to Gulf Oil in 1981. Following this divestiture, he became President of the family’s asset management company, Kemmerer Resources Corp., located in Chatham, New Jersey. He served on the Board of Directors of the First Wyoming Bank from 1983 – 1989, until its sale to Key Bank. At that time the Kemmerer family was its largest stockholder. Kemmerer chaired the Investment Committee. In 1986, Kemmerer purchased the Seven-Up Bottling Company, a major soft drink bottler and distributor in the Chicago area, which then became known as Kemmerer Bottling Group, Inc., and was the third-largest bottler of 7-Up in the country. He was later elected to the Board of the National Soft Drink Association from 1988 – 1992. Jay Kemmerer, along with his sisters Connie Kemmerer and Betty Gray, purchased the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in 1992 from Paul McCollister. It remains one of the last premier family-owned ski resorts in America. Improvements to the resort under Kemmerer family ownership have totaled over $210,000,000, including the addition of the Bridger Gondola in 1997, the Rendezvous Lodge complex at 9,100 ft. in 2007, a new Aerial Tram in 2008, the Teton high speed quad lift in 2015, and the Sweetwater Gondola in 2016. In 1997, Kemmerer purchased the CM Ranch in Dubois, Wyoming with his sisters, which the Kemmerer family visited in the 1950s. Founded in 1927, the CM is one of the oldest continually-operating guest ranches in the U.S. Total improvements to plumbing, electrical, flooring and roofs have been made to most structures, while maintaining its status on the National Register of Historic Places. Kemmerer and his family also own the master-planned golf community of Comanche Trace in Kerrville, Texas.
Philanthropy
Kemmerer and his father established the Kemmerer Family Foundation in 2000. As of 2019, the foundation has awarded over $42,000,000 in grants, and has assets of over $50,000,000. Its mission is to give back to communities and organizations with which family members are involved. The Kemmerer family maintains an undergraduate scholarship endowment at the University of Wyoming, which awards a full scholarship each year to a top graduating student from Kemmerer High School and Dubois High School. Kemmerer also established a Graduate Fellowship at the University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources in 2014. In 1990, Kemmerer established the Harding Land Trust, a land preservation organization in Harding Township, New Jersey, with guidance from Sally Dudley and Clint Curtis, and ran the organization from his office. He remains a Trustee Emeritus. Kemmerer has also been the primary benefactor of Friends of Hearts for Honduras Foundation. This organization was established by members of the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church to assist the church school that reaches over 200 of the poorest children in La Entrada, Honduras. He in an Emeritus Trustee of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation, on whose board he has served since 1997.
Personal life
Kemmerer has three daughters, a step-daughter, and five grandchildren. He is an avid fly fisherman, golfer, skier, biker, and outdoor enthusiast. He and his wife, Karen Varnas, were married in 2009 in the Jackson Hole Tram at the top of Rendezvous Mountain. In addition to their primary residence in Jackson, the Kemmerers maintain homes in Madison, New Jersey, and Vero Beach, Florida.
