A former Yukon government manager has died after hitting a tree while skiing in Alberta this week.

Rick Butler, who was in his mid-50's, died in a hospital Monday after the accident at the Nakiska Mountain Resort, about 90 kilometres west of Calgary.

Butler had been skiing on Boxing Day with his family when he ran into a tree on a flat part of an intermediate-level run, according to an article in Tuesday's Calgary Herald.

He was awake and responsive while ski patrollers and RCMP officers helped him.

However, his condition fell to life-threatening while emergency crews brought him to the STARS helicopter.

He was brought to the Foothills Hospital in Calgary by ambulance instead.

Butler ran a hobby farm with his wife and two daughters.

He had been elected to the Rocky View County council in 2010 and appointed deputy reeve soon after.

County Reeve Rolly Ashdown told the Star this morning Butler's death is a "huge shocker for everyone.

"He was one of those people who lived life well,” said Ashdown.

He said Butler brought a breath of fresh air to everything he did.

"He was an outgoing family man who never lost his sense of humour. We're sure going to miss that.”

Ashdown said the former Whitehorse resident had been skiing with his two daughters, both in their 20's, when he ran into the tree. It was trauma to his chest that caused his death, he said.

Before he was elected to council, Butler was the executive director of the Calgary Regional Partnership.

He helped put together the Calgary Metropolitan Plan, a 70-year blueprint to preserve farm land and watersheds in a time of development and to expand public transportation.

Butler also worked in the Northwest Territories during his long career.

In the Yukon, he was an assistant deputy minister of what was then called the Department of Community Affairs during the 1980s and into the early 1990s.

He and his family sold their Porter Creek C home and left the territory in the fall of 1992 after he accepted a job as a senior municipal administrator in Revelstoke, B.C.

At the time, he said he was looking for a break from his demanding territorial government job and its long hours to spend more time with his wife and young children.