28 Facts About Kenneth Lay

Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron.

Kenneth Lay was heavily involved in the eponymous accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date.

Kenneth Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing.

Kenneth Lay left behind "a legacy of shame" characterized by "mismanagement and dishonesty".

Kenneth Lay's actions were the catalyst for subsequent and fundamental corporate reform in regard to "standards of leadership, governance, and accountability".

Kenneth Lay was one of America's highest-paid CEOs; between 1998 and 2001, he collected more than $220 million in cash and stock in Enron, selling 1.7 million of those shares.

Kenneth Lay was born in the Texas County, Missouri, town of Tyrone, the son of Omer and Ruth Kenneth Lay.

Kenneth Lay's father was a Baptist preacher and Kenneth Lay grew up in poverty after the family's general store failed.

Later in Lay's childhood, his family relocated to Columbia, Missouri, and Lay attended David H Hickman High School and the University of Missouri, where he studied economics, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1964 and a Master of Arts in 1965.

Kenneth Lay served as president of the Zeta Phi chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the University of Missouri.

Kenneth Lay earned a Doctor of Philosophy in economics from the University of Houston in 1970.

Kenneth Lay worked at Humble Oil as an economist from 1965 to 1968 in the Corporate Planning Department.

In 1968, Kenneth Lay entered the Officer Candidate School for the United States Navy where, from 1968 to 1971, he rose to the rank of lieutenant and was the special assistant to the Navy Comptroller and Financial Analyst at the Office of Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Department of the Navy at The Pentagon.

Kenneth Lay worked from 1971 to 1972 as a technical assistant to commissioner and vice chairman of the Federal Power Commission and served as the energy deputy under secretary for the United States Department of Interior until 1974.

Kenneth Lay was a member of the board of directors from 1993 to 2001 of Eli Lilly and Company and a director at Texas Commerce Bank.

Kenneth Lay made monetary contributions, led several committees in the Republican Party and was co-chairman of Bush's 1992 re-election committee.

In December 2000, Lay was mentioned as a possible candidate for either United States Secretary of Energy or Secretary of the Treasury under George W Bush.

Kenneth Lay was not nominated because it was decided that the administration already included too many energy businessmen from Texas.

Kenneth Lay encouraged John Ashcroft to campaign in the 2000 Republican Party presidential primaries, although this was partially to ensure him as a spoiler candidate to help Bush win the race.

On July 7,2004, Kenneth Lay was indicted by a grand jury in Houston, Texas, for his role in the company's failure.

Kenneth Lay was charged, in a 65-page indictment, with 11 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false and misleading statements.

Kenneth Lay insisted that Enron's collapse was due to a conspiracy waged by short sellers, rogue executives, and the news media.

On May 25,2006, Kenneth Lay was found guilty on six counts of conspiracy and fraud by the jury.

Kenneth Lay died on July 5,2006, while vacationing in Colorado.

Kenneth Lay was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:11 am MDT.

Kenneth Lay's body was cremated and his ashes were buried in an undisclosed location in the mountains.

At the time of his death Kenneth Lay had been married to his second wife, Linda, since 1982.

Kenneth Lay had two children, three stepchildren, and twelve grandchildren.