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Enron founder Kenneth Lay died of an apparent heart attack this morning in Aspen, turning a media spotlight on the resort.
Pitkin County Sheriff’s deputies and a Basalt ambulance were called to an Old Snowmass home at 1:41 a.m. for a “medical emergency,” according to a brief news release issued by the sheriff’s office this morning.
Lay was transported from the house to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. A Mesa County coroner, in announcement this afternoon in Grand Junction, blamed Lay's death on heart disease.
Lay family spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly told The Aspen Times: “The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate, and out of respect for the family we will release further details at a later time.”
Local authorities and media outlets were flooded with calls from news agencies around the globe when word of Lay’s death broke this morning.
Lay, 64, was a regular Aspen visitor and, at one time, the owner of several Aspen-area homes. The Houston resident continued to visit frequently though his local residences were sold in the wake of Enron’s collapse. According to the Pitkin County assessor's office records, Lay and his wife, Linda, sold three homes and a vacant lot in 2002 and 2003 for a total of $21.8 million. He was apparently renting the home in Old Snowmass where he was staying, outside of Aspen.
Lay was convicted May 25 along with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron’s financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.
Skilling, reached by telephone at his home in Houston, told The Associated Press that he was aware of Lay’s death.
“No, I don’t have any comment,” he said quietly.
Prosecutors in Lay’s trial also declined comment today, both on his unexpected death and what may become of the government’s effort to seek a $43.5 million judgment from Lay that they say he pocketed as part of the conspiracy. Lay’s death will not affect their case against Skilling.
Both were scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. Lay faced decades in prison, as does Skilling. Lay was free on a $5 million bond and allowed to remain in Aspen and Houston.
Though his conviction was highly publicized, Lay and his wife were also recognized locally for their philanthropic efforts.
Lay was the anonymous funding source behind a research project in women’s biochemistry, according to Dr. Phyllis Bronson, a local neuro-biochemist involved in the study. He provided about $75,000 over a two-year period for the study of women’s mood and brain chemistry, she said.
The clinical research took place in Aspen; the molecular research was done at the University of Denver.
“I just think it’s really important that word get out about Ken’s philanthropic efforts here,” Bronson said.
Judy Clauson, director of advancement for the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, said Lay was a donor dating back at least to 1993.
“He would send us $5,000 for a benefit dinner and then say, ’I don’t need any tickets, it’s a gift,”’ she said. “It was just pure philanthropy, just not the picture the public has of him.”
Lay was also a contributor to the Aspen Music Festival and School and donated $440,000 over four years to the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, but failed to give the final $110,000 in the fifth year of his pledge.
The Kenneth and Linda Lay Family Foundation had pledged a total of $550,000 to ACES to help construct and furnish a field study center at Rock Bottom Ranch near El Jebel and establish an endowment fund for the facility.
But it was Lay’s connection to Enron’s meteoric rise and eventual collapse that put him in the global spotlight. Nicknamed “Kenny Boy” by President Bush, Lay led Enron from a staid natural gas pipeline company formed by a 1985 merger to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached No. 7 on the Fortune 500 in 2000 and claimed $101 billion in annual revenues.
Lay and Skilling were convicted of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron’s financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.
Enron collapsed after it was revealed the company’s finances were based on a web of fraudulent partnerships and schemes, not the profits that it reported to investors and the public.
When Lay and Skilling went on trial in U.S. District Court in Houston on Jan. 30, it had been expected that Lay, who enjoyed great popularity throughout Houston as chairman of the energy company, might be able to charm the jury. But during his testimony, Lay ended up coming across as irritable and combative.
He also sounded arrogant, defending his extravagant lifestyle — including a $200,000 yacht for wife Linda’s birthday party, despite $100 million in personal debt — and saying “it was difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot.”
Both he and Skilling maintained that there had been no wrongdoing at Enron, and that the company had been brought down by negative publicity that undermined investors’ confidence.
His defense didn’t help his case with jurors.
“I wanted very badly to believe what they were saying,” juror Wendy Vaughan said after the verdicts were announced. “There were places in the testimony I felt their character was questionable.”
Pitkin County Sheriff’s deputies and a Basalt ambulance were called to an Old Snowmass home at 1:41 a.m. for a “medical emergency,” according to a brief news release issued by the sheriff’s office this morning.
Lay was transported from the house to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. A Mesa County coroner, in announcement this afternoon in Grand Junction, blamed Lay's death on heart disease.
Lay family spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly told The Aspen Times: “The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate, and out of respect for the family we will release further details at a later time.”
Local authorities and media outlets were flooded with calls from news agencies around the globe when word of Lay’s death broke this morning.
Lay, 64, was a regular Aspen visitor and, at one time, the owner of several Aspen-area homes. The Houston resident continued to visit frequently though his local residences were sold in the wake of Enron’s collapse. According to the Pitkin County assessor's office records, Lay and his wife, Linda, sold three homes and a vacant lot in 2002 and 2003 for a total of $21.8 million. He was apparently renting the home in Old Snowmass where he was staying, outside of Aspen.
Lay was convicted May 25 along with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron’s financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.
Skilling, reached by telephone at his home in Houston, told The Associated Press that he was aware of Lay’s death.
“No, I don’t have any comment,” he said quietly.
Prosecutors in Lay’s trial also declined comment today, both on his unexpected death and what may become of the government’s effort to seek a $43.5 million judgment from Lay that they say he pocketed as part of the conspiracy. Lay’s death will not affect their case against Skilling.
Both were scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. Lay faced decades in prison, as does Skilling. Lay was free on a $5 million bond and allowed to remain in Aspen and Houston.
Though his conviction was highly publicized, Lay and his wife were also recognized locally for their philanthropic efforts.
Lay was the anonymous funding source behind a research project in women’s biochemistry, according to Dr. Phyllis Bronson, a local neuro-biochemist involved in the study. He provided about $75,000 over a two-year period for the study of women’s mood and brain chemistry, she said.
The clinical research took place in Aspen; the molecular research was done at the University of Denver.
“I just think it’s really important that word get out about Ken’s philanthropic efforts here,” Bronson said.
Judy Clauson, director of advancement for the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, said Lay was a donor dating back at least to 1993.
“He would send us $5,000 for a benefit dinner and then say, ’I don’t need any tickets, it’s a gift,”’ she said. “It was just pure philanthropy, just not the picture the public has of him.”
Lay was also a contributor to the Aspen Music Festival and School and donated $440,000 over four years to the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, but failed to give the final $110,000 in the fifth year of his pledge.
The Kenneth and Linda Lay Family Foundation had pledged a total of $550,000 to ACES to help construct and furnish a field study center at Rock Bottom Ranch near El Jebel and establish an endowment fund for the facility.
But it was Lay’s connection to Enron’s meteoric rise and eventual collapse that put him in the global spotlight. Nicknamed “Kenny Boy” by President Bush, Lay led Enron from a staid natural gas pipeline company formed by a 1985 merger to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached No. 7 on the Fortune 500 in 2000 and claimed $101 billion in annual revenues.
Lay and Skilling were convicted of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron’s financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.
Enron collapsed after it was revealed the company’s finances were based on a web of fraudulent partnerships and schemes, not the profits that it reported to investors and the public.
When Lay and Skilling went on trial in U.S. District Court in Houston on Jan. 30, it had been expected that Lay, who enjoyed great popularity throughout Houston as chairman of the energy company, might be able to charm the jury. But during his testimony, Lay ended up coming across as irritable and combative.
He also sounded arrogant, defending his extravagant lifestyle — including a $200,000 yacht for wife Linda’s birthday party, despite $100 million in personal debt — and saying “it was difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot.”
Both he and Skilling maintained that there had been no wrongdoing at Enron, and that the company had been brought down by negative publicity that undermined investors’ confidence.
His defense didn’t help his case with jurors.
“I wanted very badly to believe what they were saying,” juror Wendy Vaughan said after the verdicts were announced. “There were places in the testimony I felt their character was questionable.”
