(FORTUNE Small Business) – While not as well-known as velcro or post-its, J. Calvin Jureit's most famous invention, the Gang-Nail, stands with them as a brilliantly simple innovation. While daydreaming at a church service in 1955, Jureit conceived of the Gang-Nail, a steel plate with protruding nails that revolutionized the construction industry by allowing roof trusses to be cheaply mass-produced. After building up his company to 1,000 employees and taking it public, Jureit sold it in 1979 for $26 million. "He said it was like having a tiger by the tail," recalls his wife, Marie. "It got so huge and complex and the demands were so enormous, he had to move it to a bigger arena." (In 2001, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought the technology by acquiring its then owner, MiTek.) Juriet, who died on Sept. 9 at age 87, was far from a lone inventor. "From Boy Scouts on, he was always the leader, the organizer, the guy who wrote the script," says Marie.