PARIS – Murray “Mike” Thurston, a driving force in the development of the original Sunday River ski resort, has died at the age of 87.

Thurston died Tuesday at the Maine Veterans’ Home.

A native of Bethel and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Thurston helped develop a plan for a lodge and a tow rope to access two ski trails on Barker Mountain in Newry. The ski area opened in 1959.

During his years at Sunday River, it grew to three T-bars and a 5,000-foot chairlift. Sunday River, which was purchased by Killington ski area in the early 1970s and is now owned by Boyne Resorts, is now one of New England’s largest ski resorts.

Thurston remained an avid skier until his early 80s and was inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame last year.