"[BELOIT, Wis.] The 91st richest man in the U.S., a roofing company billionaire, has died after falling through his home garage's roof, local authorities said today."
The story doesn't even touch on the man's gifts to his community. He's been buying old industrial buildings that others only felt were fit to tear down, restoring them and finding new tenants. The city of Beloit is heartbroken over the loss. I dare say he was one man, truly, without enemies.
Tom G.
Sounds like he worked for every penny of his fortune and got a few splinters along the way. Unlike these guys on Wall Street...
I was born and raised in the Beloit area.
This man was an "accidental" billionaire.
He loved what he was doing. Because he loved what he was doing he did it extremely well. Because he did it extremely well he became extremely rich in the process - although that is not what he set out to do.
I think you're right. He made the comment, something to this effect, that he wasn't rich because he would have to sell the company to spend the money and he would never do that. His friends have been making the statement that he was as down to earth, a every day kind of a guy that ever there was. By the way, I've lived in Roscoe, all my life except for a 17 year stint in Arizona. Now back here, 5 yrs, and until this year had wondered what happened to Winter.
Tom B.
on 12/22/2007 4:34 PM HeyBub said the following:
Story was corrected to read that he fell off a subfloor under construction over his garage. The roof angle was probably a fig-newton of the reporter.
I got to know a guy like that when I was a kid. He fought in WWII and came home and started a number of businesses with each failing until he hit upon something he loved. He made a large fortune doing it but you would never know he was wealthy. He loved to anonymously do things for people and the community unlike the modern phonies who need to put out a press release and have a photo op session to show how "generous" they are because they just donated pocket change (for them) to something.
This guy was also the same in that he kept really active until he passed on.
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