Sam Roffe, Maker Of Skiwear, Breeder Of Thoroughbreds

Sam Roffe's business was making ski togs, but his love was racing Thoroughbred horses.

The man who built one of the largest stretch ski-pants-manufacturing factories in the United States never skied, but he was still fit enough in the eighth decade of his life to put in a full day, nearly every day, at Roffe Inc.'s, Seattle plant.

On Sunday, Mr. Roffe, whose firm produces Roffe Skiwear and Demetre Ski Sweaters, died of cancer. He was 85.

"He was in the factory every day . . . full days, until about three weeks ago," said Sonny Jones, company president.

A fixture at the former Longacres Race Track, where the betting and racing bug bit him as a young man, Mr. Roffe bred and raced horses all over the country from a farm in Monroe.

One of his most successful horses was Doonesbury, a Thoroughbred he and a partner bought for a few thousand dollars in the early 1980s "and sold for millions" because of its winning record, Jones said.

"If he wasn't there on the cutting floor working on patterns or new styles of pants, he was on the phone talking to a trainer or vet involved in his racing business," Jones said.

And once in a while he was known to make horse blankets out of leftover stretch-pant fabric.

Overcoming adversity was his trademark.

In 1979, the West Seattle resident underwent a laryngectomy and was fitted with an artificial voice box, which an interviewer described as sounding something like a "wise-guy computer" when he spewed out one-liners about stretch pants or his horses.

Instead of having company picnics, Mr. Roffe used to hold employee get-togethers at Longacres, and sometimes he named some of his horses after employees.

For example, Wini Ha-Ha was the horse Mr. Roffe named for Wini Jones, a former ski racer he hired in 1967 as his designer.

A native of Seattle, whose parents emigrated from Russia, Mr. Roffe lived and worked his entire life in the Seattle area.

After 22 years as a cutter at the old Seattle Woolens company, Mr. Roffe decided in 1953 to strike out on his own. He was 44 and founded Roffe Inc., to make uniforms. Three years later, the manager of the University Bookstore asked him to make some stretch ski pants to sell in the store.

"At the time, they were still imported from Europe," Mr. Roffe said. A few years later he added parkas to the line and soon dropped uniform-making.

Because of his reputation as a stickler for quality, Mr. Roffe was asked in 1960 to outfit the U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team.

Roffe special-order ski pants have been worn by such celebrities as actors James Arness and June Lockhart and former president Gerald Ford.

In 1987 Roffe Inc., acquired Demetre Sweaters.

Earlier this year, in February, Mr. Roffe's wife of 54 years, Hazel, died. He is survived by a brother, Harry Roffe; a sister, Bertha Roffe Appelman; a son, Robert Roffe; two grandchildren and a great-granddaughter, all of Seattle.

Memorial services were scheduled today at Herzl Memorial Park. The family suggests remembrances to a favorite charity.