Kenneth Langone


Kenneth Gerard Langone Sr., KSG is an American billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist, best known for organizing financing for the founders of The Home Depot. He is a major donor to the Republican Party.

Early life

Kenneth Langone was born in Roslyn Heights, New York, 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 and the New York University Stern School of Business.

Business career

In the early 1960s, Langone began his career at a Wall Street financial services company named R.W. Pressprich, where he helped develop new business. In 1968 Langone met and persuaded Ross Perot to let Pressprich handle Electronic Data Systems's IPO. In 1969, Langone would be named Pressprich’s president.
In 1974, Langone formed the venture capital firm Invemed. Langone organized financing for Marcus and Blank to found Home Depot. 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, General Electric, Database Technologies,, ChoicePoint Inc., Unifi, and Yum! Brands, Inc..
Langone was chairman of the New York Stock Exchange's Compensation Committee from 1999 to 2003. In 2004, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer 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 boards decision. On July 1, 2008, the New York State Court of Appeals 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.

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.
He lives in Sands Point, New York.
Langone is a member of Kappa Beta Phi.

Philanthropy

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.
He serves on the boards of The Ronald McDonald House of NY, CSIS, The Medal of Honor Foundation, and the Harlem Children's Zone.
He is a major donor to the Republican Party.

In popular media

Langone is portrayed by actor Ray Iannicelli in the 2017 HBO Films 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.