Kenneth Gerard Langone Sr. KSG (born September 16, 1935) is an American billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist, best known for organizing financing for the founders of

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

. He has been a major donor to the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

Early life

Langone was born in

Roslyn Heights, New York Roslyn Heights is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Roslyn area, which is anchored by the Incorporated V ...

, to Italian American working-class parents. His father was a plumber and his mother a cafeteria worker. Langone's family has been described as having "a lot of love, but not a lot of money." He was a student at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineerin ...

and the

New York University Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

Business career

In the early 1960s, Langone began his career at a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

company named R.W. Pressprich, where he helped develop new business. In 1968 Langone met and persuaded

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an indepe ...

to let Pressprich handle

Electronic Data Systems Electronic all cash BSN acc: 1311729000110205 Data Systems (EDS) was an American multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Plano, Texas which was founded in 1962 by Ross Perot. The company was a s ...

's IPO. In 1969, Langone would be named Pressprich's president. In 1974, Langone formed the venture capital firm Invemed. Langone organized financing for Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank to found

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

. Now a national chain with over 400,000 employees, it is Langone's most notable business venture. Langone has been on the boards of

Geeknet Geeknet, Inc. is a Fairfax County, Virginia–based company that is a subsidiary of GameStop. The company was formerly known as VA Research, VA Linux Systems, VA Software, and SourceForge, Inc. History VA Research VA Research was founded in Nove ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

, Database Technologies, ChoicePoint Inc., Unifi, and Yum! Brands, Inc. Langone was chairman of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

's Compensation Committee from 1999 to 2003. In 2004, New York Attorney General

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was born in New York City, attended P ...

filed a lawsuit against the New York Stock Exchange's former Chairman Richard Grasso to return $100 million to the NYSE that were part of his $139.5 million pay package. The lawsuit named Langone who had approved the pay package. Langone denied that the pay packages were illegal considering that the NYSE had direct knowledge of the board's decision. On July 1, 2008, the

New York State Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...

dismissed all claims against Grasso because the NYSE had changed its status from a nonprofit to a for-profit organization, which meant that the Attorney General had lost standing to sue Grasso. In July 2022, Langone helped found a group of U.S. business and policy leaders who share the goal of constructively engaging with China in order to improve U.S.-China relations.

Personal life

He and his wife Elaine Langone have three children; Kenneth G. Jr., Stephen, and Bruce Langone. He is a practicing Roman Catholic, and was made a Knight of St. Gregory by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

. He lives in

Sands Point, New York Sands Point is a village located at the tip of the Cow Neck Peninsula in the Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Port Washington area, ...

, and had previously lived on Elderfields Road in nearby Flower Hill. Langone is a member of

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more t ...

. On January 13, 2021, Langone said he felt “betrayed” by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

's actions regarding the

2021 storming of the United States Capitol On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-United States President, U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol, U ...

, echoing Langone's comments from 2017 on the

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Kl ...

Philanthropy and political donations

Langone is a major donor to the

as of 2014. In 2018 Langone pledged $100 million in funding towards a $450 million program to make tuition free for all medical students at the NYU School of Medicine. Langone serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees of the

NYU Langone Medical Center NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and ...

.Langone's Faces of Philanthropy profile

Faces of Philanthropy The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

, accessed December 28, 2010.Langone's Business Week Executive Profile

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

, accessed December 28, 2010. In 2019, he donated over $5 million to the Animal Medical Center in New York City. In 2020, the Open Discourse Coalition was founded with funding from Ken Langone and various Bucknell alumni. Langone currently sits on the Advisory Board. He co-authored a letter in the Wall Street Journal about the organization and why he and many other alumni felt compelled to create the entity. He serves on the boards of The Ronald McDonald House of NY, CSIS, The Medal of Honor Foundation, and the Harlem Children's Zone.Board of Trustees
Harlem Children's Zone, accessed December 28, 2010.

In popular media

Langone is portrayed by actor Ray Iannicelli in the 2017

HBO Films HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non- ...

production '' The Wizard of Lies''. In the film, Langone rejects an offer to invest money in the schemes of convicted Wall Street swindler

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDAQ ...

. Langone is extensively featured in the documentary '' Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer'' where he discusses his fierce rivalry with former

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...

References

External links

Firm Mines Wealth Of Personal Data
'' Washington Post'', loaded March 14, 2006

''consumeraffairs.com'', May 16, 2006, loaded April 2, 2007

''New York Times'', April 16, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Langone, Kenneth 1935 births Living people American businesspeople in retailing American financiers American corporate directors American billionaires American investment bankers Businesspeople from New York (state) Bucknell University alumni General Electric people Giving Pledgers 21st-century philanthropists New York Stock Exchange people People from Roslyn Heights, New York Roslyn High School alumni Flower Hill, New York New York (state) Republicans New York University Stern School of Business alumni The Home Depot people Yum! Brands people Knights of St. Gregory the Great American Roman Catholics American people of Italian descent