Richard D. Kinder (born October 19, 1944) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan Inc., an energy and pipeline corporation.

Early life

Richard Kinder was born in

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, Cape Girardeau and Scott County, Missouri, Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...

, in 1944. He received a BA in 1966 and a JD in 1968, both from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. In college, he was a member of the

Sigma Nu Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate Fraternities and sororities in North America, college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1869. Since its founding, Sigma Nu has chartered more than 279 chapters across the United States and Ca ...

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

Career

He began his career in the energy business as an attorney with

Florida Gas Transmission Florida Gas Transmission is a natural gas Pipeline transport#Oil and natural gas, pipeline which brings gas from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama into Florida. The pipeline is owned 50% by Energy Transfer Partners (Owner/Operator) and 50% ...

, which eventually became

Enron Corporation Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compa ...

, after a series of mergers He had been friends with its founder,

Kenneth Lay Kenneth Lee Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006) was an American businessman and political donor who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in Enron scandal, Enron's accounting scandal that unr ...

, in college. From 1990 to December 1996, he served as its president and COO. He resigned from Enron in 1996 to start a new pipeline company with college friend William V. Morgan. They purchased Enron Liquids Pipeline for $40 million. They also merged with KN Energy. After a number of acquisitions, the most prominent being

El Paso Corporation El Paso Corporation was a provider of natural gas and related energy products and was one of North America's largest natural gas producers until its acquisition by Kinder Morgan in 2012. It was headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States. Prio ...

, Kinder Morgan became the largest midstream energy company in North America. He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

and serves as chairman of the

Kinder Foundation The Kinder Foundation is a Houston-based 501c3 nonprofit organization. It was established in 1997 by Richard Kinder and Nancy Kinder. Since its establishment, the Kinder Foundation has committed more than $410 million in grants and transformatio ...

. He previously served as a member of the board of

Baker Hughes Baker Hughes Company is an American global energy technology company co-headquartered in Houston, Texas and London, UK. As one of the world's largest oil field services, industrial and energy technology companies, it provides products and serv ...

Transocean Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Steinhausen, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, ...

and

Waste Management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitor ...

, as a national board member of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

and is a past chairman of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. A Republican, he campaigned for Bush-Quayle in 1992, for Bush-Cheney in 2004, for

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

in 2008, and for

Kay Bailey Hutchison Kay Bailey Hutchison (born Kathryn Ann Bailey; July 22, 1943) is an American attorney, television correspondent, politician, diplomat, and was the 22nd United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 2017 until 2021. A member of the Republic ...

and

Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, DeLay represented Texas's 22nd congress ...

. In 2014, Kinder was listed on Forbes Richest People in the US. Kinder is one of seven self-made billionaires from Houston on the list, with a net worth of $11 billion. In 2020, he was ranked No. 103 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America.

Personal life

He is twice married, with one child from his first marriage. His divorce was in 1996, the same year he left Enron. He married Nancy McNeil in September 1997. Prior to leaving Enron in 1996, McNeil was Ken Lay's assistant and was a member of

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

's presidential committee from 2007 to 2008. He lives in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Kinder Foundation

The Kinders founded the Kinder Foundation in an effort to support Greater Houston as a model city for economic and quality of life by providing transformation grants in the areas of urban green space, education and quality of life. As of December 2022, the Kinder Foundation has given more than $506.9 million in gifts.

Quality of Life

Through the foundation, the Kinders donated $15 million to

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in 2010 to support and rename the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, formerly Rice's Institute for Urban Research. In 2022, the Kinder Foundation granted Rice another $50 million to expand the Kinder Institute's work to solve challenges facing Houston. In October 2013, it was announced that the foundation would give $50 million to the Houston Parks Board for the Bayou Greenways 2020 Project, which connects greenspaces along Houston's bayous and creates parkland. In January 2015, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston announced a $50 million gift from the Kinder Foundation for the redevelopment of the museum's 14-acre campus. In 2018, the Kinder Foundation gave an additional $25 million challenge grant to complete the capital campaign goal of $450 million. In November 2020, the museum's new Nancy and Rich Kinder Building for modern and contemporary art opened to the public. The Kinder Foundation actively supports the community development and preservation of Houston's historic Third Ward. It provided $750,000 for the Emancipation Park Conservancy's rededication of Emancipation Park in 2016, $2 million in 2018 to PRH Preservation, Inc. to maintain and enhance existing buildings in the Third Ward to ensure safe, affordable housing for residents, and $1.5 million to the Law Harrington Senior Living Center in July 2019 to establish an affordable independent living center for LGBTQ-affirming seniors in the Third Ward, among other gifts to Third Ward organizations. In the aftermath of

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

in 2017, the foundation contributed nearly $3 million to disaster relief efforts including to the United Way of Greater Houston Relief Fund, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, and also to employee relief funds to help those in Houston most impacted by the hurricane's devastating effects. The Kinder Foundation contributed more than $3.5 million to Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts, including $1 million to the Houston Food Bank in April 2020 and $1 million to the City of Houston's second rental assistance package.

Urban Greenspace

Along with several other Houston philanthropies, the Kinder Foundation founded Discovery Green, downtown Houston's notable 12-acre park, in 2008. The philanthropists approached then-Mayor Bill White with an idea to acquire the Houston Center Gardens adjacent to downtown's George R. Brown Convention Center property and create a permanent downtown greenspace and public park. The Kinder Foundation contributed an initial $10 million for the park's creation. In 2010, the Kinder Foundation approached the Buffalo Bayou Partnership with a catalyst grant of $30 million of the $58 million needed for improvements to the existing 160-acre, 2.3 mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to Sabine Street. In 2015, Buffalo Bayou Park's enhancements were complete. In September 2022, the Kinder Foundation granted $100 million to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership for Buffalo Bayou East, a 10-year, $310 million project to expand Buffalo Bayou Park from downtown to Houston's East End. To accelerate implementation of the visionary Memorial Park Master Plan, the Kinder Foundation offered a grant of $70 million to the Memorial Park Conservancy in April 2018. In February 2023, the Memorial Park Conservancy completed the Kinder Land Bridge, a 100-acre area built over several lanes of traffic underneath the park, named in the Kinders' honor.

Education

A $25 million grant from the Kinder Foundation to the University of Missouri in October 2015 went to establish the university's Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. In November 2019, the foundation granted an additional $10 million to support new degree opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and the College of Arts and Science. The Kinder Foundation gave an additional $25 million in November 2022 to expand faculty and popular program offerings, bringing the total philanthropy from Rich and Nancy Kinder and the foundation to $60 million.

Political activities

In 2015, Kinder and his wife Nancy donated $2 million to a Super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

. The Kinders are major donors to the

Texas Republican Party The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is the Texas affiliate of the Republican Party in the United States. It is currently chaired by Abraham George, who succeeded Matt Rinaldi in 2024. The party is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is legall ...

, and in 2019 alone gave a total of $250,000 to current Texas Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinder, Richard American energy industry executives 1944 births Living people Kinder Morgan American billionaires Businesspeople from Missouri Businesspeople from Texas Enron people 21st-century American philanthropists People from Cape Girardeau, Missouri Missouri Republicans Texas Republicans University of Missouri alumni