Death of a Modern Corporate Impostor

Death of Kenneth Lay, Enron Executive
Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, age of 64, who was convicted of accounting fraud, the most hated a modern executive by hard working people and many investors in U.S. history, died suddenly of a heart attack at his vacation home in Colorado.

When he was convicted, we all felt sense of victory that the big fish didn’t get away as believing that white collar crime often had gotten away from our judicial system. Since he has been waiting for his sentence, which scheduled in Oct. 23, could have put him in jail for the rest of his life. Apparently his existing heart problem and stress caused his death according to his family doctor.

Surrounding his sudden death, instead of respect and tribute to his life, it has raised many suspicions. Some people even suspected that his death was staged to avoid his jail time and losing his states and millions of dollars that he pocketed from his company.

I wonder how many people feel sorry for his death on this day. Does his death bring back his legacy as a different person rather than a convicted felon?

Lay had built Enron into a high profile, widely admired company, the seventh largest publicly traded in the country and once became a corporate wonder boy. Enron started to collapse when his company’s finances showed suspicious profit report, which were based on a web of fraudulent partnerships and schemes.

Like these executives in Tyco, Enron, WorldCom who were committed securities violations, were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths, but they were ambitious, striving people who once made the American dream such as Ken Lay. Before his greed demon turned him into a fraudulent felon, he was an ambitious young man. His career resume could have inspired many young people and could have been a symbol of success to many who are working hard to be on the corporate ladder.

According to associate press, he was born in Tyrone, Mo. and spent his childhood helping his family make ends meet. His father ran a general store and sold stoves until he became a minister. Lay delivered newspapers and mowed lawns to pitch in. He attended the University of Missouri, found his calling in economics, and went to work at Exxon Mobil Corp. predecessor Humble Oil & Refining upon graduation.

He joined the Navy, served his time at the Pentagon, and then served as undersecretary for the Department of the Interior before he returned to business. He became an executive at Florida Gas, then Transco Energy in Houston, and later became CEO of Houston Natural Gas. In 1985, HNG merged with InterNorth in Omaha, Neb. To form Enron, and Lay became chairman and CEO of the combined company the next year (2006).

Whether his death brings forgiveness to his crime or being condemned to his grave, his nightmare is over. His legacy will haunt the rest of hardworking, honorable corporate leaders and teach them a valuable lesson. So the sense of trust that had lost in the public by all this is hopefully restored.

Death of a Modern Corporate Impostor is gone, we heard, but is he?