Billionaire James Crown Dies Sunday In Aspen Racetrack Crash

PITKIN COUNTY, CO. (THECOUNT) — James Crown was killed in a single-vehicle crash at the Aspen Racing & Sports Car Club after he failed to navigate a turn and collided with an impact barrier, according to a statement from the Pitkin County Coroner’s Office. He was 70.

Crown, president of Henry Crown & Co., the investment vehicle of one of Chicago’s richest families and the longest-serving board member of JPMorgan Chase & Co., died Sunday in a crash at the racetrack in Woody Creek, Colorado. He was celebrating his 70th birthday.

The incident was ruled an accident, the coroner said.

Crown’s family owns the Aspen Skiing Co., an operator of mountain and ski area facilities based in Aspen, according to FA-Mag.

“We extend our deepest condolences to Jim’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,” Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of the New York-based bank, said in a statement Monday. “Our thoughts are also with all of you who knew and loved Jim, as much as I did. He was an integral part of JPMorgan Chase and our lives, and his presence will be deeply missed.”

His father, Lester Crown, 98, is a stakeholder in New York’s Rockefeller Center, the New York Yankees, the Chicago Bulls and defense contractor General Dynamic Corp.

Lester Crown amassed his fortune through Material Service Corp., which he founded with his brothers Irving and Sol in 1919 and built up to become one of the largest cement distributors in the US at one point. General Dynamics, one of the country’s largest defense contractors, acquired Material Services. Lester Crown sat on its board from 1974 to 2006.

Through the family’s philanthropy, the Crown name adorns Chicago institutions including the Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place, the Henry Crown Space Center at the Museum of Science and Industry and buildings at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

James Crown was engaged in a plan to fight rampant crime in Chicago as part of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club. As chair of the civic group’s public-safety task force, he and other business leaders wanted the city to slash murders in half and shootings by more than 40% over the next five years.

He earned a degree in political science from Hampshire College in 1976 and received his law degree from Stanford University in 1980. Crown became a vice president of the Capital Markets Service Group in 1983 and joined his family’s investment firm in 1985.

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Geo quick facts: Pitkin County is a county in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,358. The county seat and largest city is Aspen. The county is named for Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. Pitkin County has the seventh-highest per capita income of any U.S. county – Wikipedia.