James S. Crown, a prominent member of the Crown family of Chicago that owns the Aspen Skiing Company, died on Sunday after a single-vehicle accident at the Aspen Motorsports Park in Woody Creek.
He was 70, and Sunday was his birthday.
According to a press release issued by the Pitkin County Coroner's Office at 9:23 p.m. Sunday, Crown "failed to navigate a turn resulting in a collision with an impact barrier." A subsequent press release from the Coroner's Office issued at 11:56 p.m. retracted the phrase "failed to navigate a turn" and said instead that he was "involved in a single vehicle accident."
The official cause of death is pending an autopsy, but the Coroner's Office said "multiple blunt force trauma is evident" and the manner was an accident. The incident is being investigated by the Pitkin County Coroner's Office, the Pitkin County sheriff's Office, and Colorado State Patrol.
A SkiCo spokesperson provided the following statement from the Crown family: "The Crown family is deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Jim Crown in an accident earlier today. The family requests that their privacy be respected at this difficult time. Further details regarding plans for a memorial to remember Jim’s remarkable life will be released at a later date.”
Crown participated in a public re-christening of Lift 1A on Aspen Mountain on its 75th anniversary in January, 2022 and spoke at a ribbon cutting for the renovated base area at Buttermilk Mountain in February.
In 2013, Jim and Paula Crown spoke with Roger Adams at Aspen Public Radio about SkiCo's use of art in the company's operations.
Crown's leadership as managing partner of SkiCo emerged in the early 1990s as he took increased responsibility for decision making from his father Lester Crown.
In addition to serving as the managing partner at SkiCo, Crown was also chairman and chief executive officer of Henry Crown and Company, the billionaire Crown family's privately owned company which invests in public and private securities, real estate, and operating companies.
According to his bio on the Aspen Institute's web page, he was also chairman emeritus of The Aspen Institute, lead director of General Dynamics Corp., and a director of JPMorgan Chase.
"Crown was born in Chicago in 1953, the son of Lester and Renée (Schine) Crown," the Institute bio says (he was also the grandson of Henry Crown). "He earned a B.A. in political science in 1976 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He received his law degree in 1980 from Stanford Law School, where he was projects editor of the Stanford Law Review and a member of the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation.
"Upon graduating from law school, Crown joined Salomon Brothers Inc, in New York City, as an associate. He became a vice president of the Capital Markets Service Group in January 1983. In April 1985 he returned to Chicago to join his family’s investment firm.
"Crown has been married to the former Paula Hannaway since 1985. He and Paula have four children."
Please see additional coverage in the Aspen Daily News, The Colorado Sun, NBC News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Reuters.
This story has been updated as new information has become available.
