Lawrence lost an entrepreneur, musician and a man who knew how to work and have fun, friends and relatives of Harry Winters Jr., said Monday.

“He always had some kind of scheme going,” said Scott Winters, Winters’ son.

Harry Winters, who during his life wore the badge of a law enforcement officer, played drums in a 1940s swing band and managed businesses, died Saturday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He was 81 and died from lung cancer complications, family members said.

Winters retired in 1981 after nearly 30 years at the Lawrence Paper Co., finishing his career there as factory production superintendent.

He went on to run the concession businesses at Lone Star Lake and state lakes in Douglas and Osage counties. He and Jim Kennedy of Lawrence, who relatives said was Winters’ best friend, went into the popcorn distribution business after starting J & H Enterprises.

“I knew him for a lot of years and we never had an argument,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been involved in a lot of little odds and ends. He was just a very good friend.”

In addition to being a businessman, Winters spent three years after World War II as a deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. He worked as an investigator for the Kansas attorney general and Kansas Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Clyde Bysom, another of Winters’ friends, played in bands with him.

“I have a lot of respect and admiration for him,” Bysom said. “He was always involved in something. He’s really going to be missed.”

Even while he was in the hospital last week, Winters was trying to figure out how to make a better hospital bed and oxygen mask, his son said.

“If he had lived, I think he would have done it, too,” Scott Winters said.

Catherine Hess, Harry Winters’ daughter, said she would remember him as the type of person who helped build modern Lawrence. His word was his bond, she said.

“He needed no legal-eagle-beagle types to pick those contracts apart,” said Hess, who is a lawyer. “If he said it, it was done.”