The family of a man killed while working on a ski lift at an Alberta resort is disappointed that a $250,000 scholarship established in his name has been cancelled.

An Alberta judge quashed a conviction on appeal last week against Sunshine Village in the Aug. 31, 2004, death of Jan-Karl Stunt, 25, of Manotick, Ont., who was an employee at its ski resort west of Calgary.

Stunt was killed when he was struck in the head by a chunk of metal that broke off a set of raised stairs and then struck his head on the lift terminal at the resort near Banff, Alta.

Because the scholarship was part of the original conviction and sentence, which has now been overturned, ski hill operators aren't obligated to go ahead with it, resort spokesman, Doug Firby, said Sunday.

The scholarship, which was to be allocated among several campuses at Selkirk College in British Columbia, was one small source of comfort in what has been a "gruelling" court process, Stunt's father, Bill, 57, said in an interview Sunday from his home south of Ottawa.

"It's the one small thing that we had out of this almost six-year process was some kind of legacy for Karl in a way that … could have done some good for some other person in his circumstance working in the ski industry," he said.