During life, Heinz Prechter was a powerful force in industry and politics.

He got his start in the 1960s, by installing car sunroofs, a feature common in his home country of Germany, but relatively unheard of then in the U.S. Prechter built the operation into a global automotive company, ASC Inc.

At the same time, he assumed enormous influence in Republican politics, co-chairing the national finance committee for President George H.W. Bush’s 1992 re-election and bringing early support to George W. Bush’s first presidential run.

Yet his public image was very much at odds with his private torments. Prechter suffered from manic depression, or bipolar disorder, but had kept his illness secret.