Former City of Duluth engineer honored

After 18 years of planning, the first vacation homes of the RiverWest development near Spirit Mountain in Duluth are open.

Partners of the project showcased these finished vacation rental units, and they gathered to remember a key member of the team from the City of Duluth, Eric Shaffer.

Eric passed away in February after a tragic snowmobile accident, and the community felt a loss. 

RiverWest developers named a street in his honor “Eric Shaffer Way.”

“Eric was instrumental in helping us with this project from the beginning, he was always ready to help make the hard decisions.” stated Scott Neustel, a Project Partner.

Those who worked with him say Shaffer had a knack for making decisions, and the team quickly dubbed every decision, “It’s the Eric Shaffer Way.”

Shaffer’s wife Linnae received a donation from RiverWest for the Eric Shaffer Engineering Scholarship program.

She told the crowd, “He was never one who like the center of attention, but when he got home, that was different. He liked all of the articles. He like all of the videos. He always sent everything home to his parents… And on behalf of his entire family, I want to say thanks to everybody.”