Jim Tweto was born on 26 November 1954 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He was married to Ferno Tweto. He died on 16 June 2023 in Shaktoolik, Nome, Alaska, USA.
Built fishing boats in the 1980s naming his company Gussik Ventures in which gussik means "white person" in the Eskimo language. His boats were adopted by the locals and he built nearly three-quarters of the fishing boats in the region.