Founder of Enron Kenneth Lay dies a beaten man

Founder of the energy giant Enron's Kenneth Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006), died of a massive heart attack on July 5, while vacationing in a home he once owned near Aspen, Colorado. He was awaiting sentencing after being convicted in May of federal fraud charges stemming from Enron's collapse, which wiped out more than 5,000 jobs and $1 billion in employee pensions.

Ken Lay's story is an amazing one.

Enron Corporation is an energy company based in Houston, Texas. Prior to its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed around 21,000 people and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of $101 billion in 2000. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years.

Less than two years after Enron was formed, a trader in the company's Valhalla office lost hundreds of millions of dollars betting the wrong way on crude oil. The company, at Lay's bidding, hid the damage from investors until executives had worked it down to a more manageable $85 million.

It was an early--disturbingly early--sign that Lay was willing to do almost anything to protect his company from disclosures that could tank its stock price.

It was this pattern of deception and Lay's willingness to hide the truth that ultimately brought the collapse of Enron, wherein unwitting investors lost $6 trillion overall. Millions of innocent bystanders lost much more in terms of their lives.

Lay rose from near poverty as a minister's son in Missouri to the pinnacle of America. He was a strong supporter of the Republican Party.

Lay was one of America's highest-paid CEOs, earning (for example) a $42.4 million compensation package in 1999. He dumped large amounts of his Enron stock in September and October of 2001 as its price fell, while encouraging employees to buy more stock, telling them the company would rebound. Lay liquidated more than $300 million in Enron stock from 1989 to 2001, mostly in stock options.

Justice is done in strange ways. While it is inhuman to gloat over the death of a person, those who lost their livelihood and pensions would feel Kenneth Lay facing his day in court is small comfort for them.