Yeti Hunter’s Involved Brother Dies
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 3rd, 2007
Earl F. Slick, 86, whose brother will forever be tied to Yeti, died on May 13, 2007, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The family delayed a public announcement until after services and his burial.
He is shown above in the 1940s, with a model of one of the air freight carriers in his then-new company.
Earl F. Slick was the brother of Tom Slick, the millionaire adventurer and Yeti hunter of the 1950s and early 1960s.
Earl served as a pilot in World War II, and was linked to the famed Flying Tigers that transported cargo across the Himalayas during the War.
In January 1946, Earl and Tom Slick, both young men in their 20s, founded Slick Airways, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas, and began operations in March 1946 using ten Curtiss C-46s. Eventually, Slick Airways would become part of the CIA’s Air America, flying supplies to Americans and other allies during the Vietnam War. (I’ve already discussed here, “Tom Slick, Snowmen, and Spying”.)
Earl was involved with another one of Tom Slick’s personal pet projects, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio. It was there where a captured Abominable Snowman was to be taken, then later, when the North American Bigfoot was being hunted, a caught Sasquatch, likewise, was to be sent to the SWFBR. Today, the research center still maintains the world’s largest colony of captive rhesus monkeys and has become a leader in blood-born disease research. Earl was on the board of directors until his death.
As reported in the Winston-Salem Journal’s obituary, Earl F. Slick and his wife, Jane, moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from Texas in 1952. Besides continuting his leadership of Slick Airways until it was sold, Slick quickly established himself as a player in the city’s real-estate industry. He became a local developer who helped build Thruway Shopping Center, the Winston-Salem’s first shopping center in 1955.
Earl F. Slick, a graduate of Yale University, was born in Pennsylvania, and was the head of Slick Enterprises, with Slick’s office being located at 4400 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem.
Slick eventually expanded into chemicals and pollution-control equipment. He appears to have demonstrated a sense of humor and lack of interest in publicity that was a hallmark of the personality I discovered for Tom Slick. When Earl was asked about his profession, he would often simply reply “dog trainer,” officials for Slick Enterprises said after his death.
My condolences to his wife and daughter, grandkids, and all his relatives from Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina who have been kind enough to have welcomed me into their homes to talk about the legacy of the Slicks.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I’m really sorry to hear this!
Earl and his brother lived very interesting lives!
My condolences go out to his family.