James Kenneth Winchester
James Kenneth Winchester, 43, of Vista, Calif., died on March 2, 2022, following a struggle with lasting effects of a traumatic brain injury he sustained in 2016.
James was born on April 9, 1978, in Montreal, Canada, the son of Kenneth Winchester and Elizabeth (Oehl) Duke. He grew up in Montreal and Pleasantville, N.Y. James graduated from Southold High School in Southold, N.Y., and attended University of California Santa Barbara. He moved to Vista in 2015, having lived in Danbury, Conn.; Morgan Hill, Calif.; and Bensalem, Pa.
James was a respected and well-known product manager in the bicycle industry with an infectious passion for bicycles and innovation. He earned numerous accolades for his designs, including “Best in Class” and “Editors’ Choice” awards.
He began his bike industry career as a teenager working at Country Time Bicycles of Mattituck, N.Y., then Bike-alog, and went on to work at the world’s leading bicycle manufacturers and importers, including Veltec, Schwinn, Felt, Cannondale, Specialized, Fuji and Haro/Masi. He was an industry consultant via his own company, Cassette, and most recently was a global category manager at Giant Bicycle. James made friends wherever he worked and was known for his keen eye for detail and specification and his sharp sense of humor.
James is survived by his wife, Karie, and his three children, Ava (11), Wyatt (7) and Ian (3) of Vista, Calif.; his mother, Elizabeth Duke of Vista (formerly of Southold); his father, Kenneth Winchester of Victoria, Canada; parents-in-law Donald and Peggylee Dzenkowski of East Marion, N.Y.; sister-in-law Valerieann Dzenkowski; brother-in-law Jared Loveless; nephews Casper and Digby Loveless of Greenport, N.Y.; sister Patricia Winchester and her child, Andy Estes, of Humboldt, Calif.; half siblings Maeve Winchester of Nanaimo, Canada, and Julian Winchester of London, England; and many aunts, uncles and cousins. James was preceded in death by his stepfather, Richard Duke.
A Mass of Christian Burial and Interment was celebrated April 5 at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside, Calif.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at Townsend Manor Inn in Greenport, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to any of the following organizations, which were significant to James and his love of bicycling:
• All Kids Bike, which places Kindergarten PE Learn-To-Ride Programs into public schools for free;
• Pablove Foundation, which fights childhood cancer with love, funding cutting-edge pediatric cancer research and art programs for children in treatment;
• San Diego Brain Injury Foundation, which provides hope, support and a community to San Diego’s brain injury survival population.
This is a paid notice.
