William "Bud" Post III, the eccentric Erie County man who won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery and then mired himself in litigation while setting an example of how wretched excess can destroy newfound wealth, died Sunday.
Mr. Post, who was on oxygen to aid his failing lungs before finally succumbing to respiratory failure at UPMC Northwest in Seneca, was 66.
Mr. Post worked odd jobs, including stints as a circus and carnival hand, truck driver, painter and cook, before picking the right set of numbers to become a multimillionaire on Feb. 24, 1988.
His life had taken a turn for the worse even before spiraling out of control after he hit the jackpot. He had been married five times and was living on Social Security disability income because of a job-related injury in 1987.
Mr. Post's money worries should have ended after he won what amounted to annual payments of $498,000 after taxes.
"For the lack of a better term, he was like the 'Beverly Hillbillies,' " said John Lacher, a bankruptcy lawyer who assisted with Mr. Post's eventual bankruptcy case in the early 1990s. Mr. Lacher described Mr. Post as impulsive.
"He was the last guy in the world you would expect to win the lottery. He did everything you would expect of a guy who became a millionaire overnight."
On the day he bought his winning ticket, Mr. Post told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he had pawned a ring for $40 and spent the money on 40 tickets. His landlady and sometime girlfriend, Ann Karpik, bought 20 more. The winning ticket was one of the 60.
Ms. Karpik sued in 1989, claiming she and Mr. Post had agreed to share the winnings. She won, and in 1992, was awarded a third of the jackpot, which amounted to $5.3 million.
Mr. Post's legal troubles started to consume him financially. He said at the time that his legal fees amounted to $129,000 in one year.
Promises he made to family members and his inability to control his spending led to most of the money he had won being squandered, Mr. Lacher said.
"While you might buy one laptop, Bud would see the same laptop and buy 30," said Mr. Lacher. "He bought his brother a car dealership."
One of his brothers, Jeffrey Post, 50, of Sarasota, Fla., was arrested and convicted of promising to give an informant a 27-foot sailboat and forgive the man's debt if he would kill Mr. Post and his wife at the time. He told the informant to make the deaths look like a murder-suicide.
Mr. Post fled the state after he exhausted his appeals of a 1992 simple assault conviction for firing a gun at a man who tried to collect a debt at his house. Detectives found him at a Mississippi fishing camp. He received a six- to 24-month sentence.
Mr. Post's seventh wife, Debra S. Wice, refused to speak about her husband's life or death.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by nine children.
Hutchinson Funeral Home is handling arrangements, which were incomplete yesterday. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Erie.
First Published: January 18, 2006, 5:00 a.m.