Winner, 81, invented the popular anti car-theft device, and his Sharon-based company Winner International sold more than 10 million of them. He also was widely known for his philanthropy in western Pennsylvania.
In a statement Wednesday, company officials said it was "a very difficult time for all of us and the family would request that you honor their privacy."
In the 1980s, Winner developed the steering-wheel lock known as The Club after his car was stolen. He sold the first one in western Pennsylvania before creating Winner International.
Winner also was interested in bettering the region. He said he wanted to make the area a tourist destination and create jobs after the loss of industry there. He bought and restored buildings, including the downtown Sharon home once owned by industrialist Frank Buhl, which Winner converted into a bed and breakfast.
Winner owned hotels, schools and businesses, including Winner Steel, which he eventually sold.
"Jim was just a great man and did more behind the scenes than people even knew," the Rev. Larry Haynes, who worked with Winner through the Shenango Valley Foundation community group, told the Sharon Herald.
Winner was born in the town of Transfer and worked on his family's farm from the age of 5. He attended school in a one-room schoolhouse before joining the Army at age 17.
Authorities said Winner's SUV crossed into oncoming traffic striking the car. The other two killed were identified as driver Bobby Jarrett, 82, of Tionesta, and passenger Raymond Fair, 76, of Tylersburg.
"So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think... The good outnumber you, and we always will." Patton Oswalt
Here in Ottawa in the mid '90s any kid with a slot screwdriver could be driving around in any K-Car based Chrysler product in seconds and The Club was a good theft deterent. Pneu Canadien sold a ton of them.
