Ken Langone facts for kids

Kenneth Gerard Langone Sr. is a very successful American businessman. He is famous for helping to start The Home Depot, a big store for home improvement. He was born on September 16, 1935. He also gives a lot of money to the Republican Party, a political group in the United States.

Early Life and Education

Ken Langone was born in Roslyn Heights, New York. His parents were Italian American. His father worked as a plumber, and his mother worked in a cafeteria. He went to Bucknell University and later studied at the New York University Stern School of Business.

Business Career Highlights

In the early 1960s, Langone started his career at a company called R.W. Pressprich on Wall Street. He helped the company find new business opportunities. In 1968, he convinced Ross Perot to let Pressprich handle the first public sale of shares for Electronic Data Systems (EDS). By 1969, Langone became the president of Pressprich.

Founding The Home Depot

In 1974, Langone started his own company called Invemed. He played a key role in helping Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank get the money they needed to start Home Depot. Today, Home Depot is a huge international chain with over 450,000 employees. It is one of Langone's most well-known business successes.

Other Business Roles

Langone was a member of the board of directors for General Electric from 1999 to 2005. He also served on the boards of other companies like Geeknet, ChoicePoint Inc., and Yum! Brands, Inc..

From 1999 to 2003, Langone was the chairman of the Compensation Committee for the New York Stock Exchange. In 2004, there was a legal case involving the former chairman, Richard Grasso, and his large pay package. Langone had approved this package. The claims against Grasso were later dismissed in 2008 because the New York Stock Exchange had changed its business status.

As of 2024, Forbes magazine estimates Ken Langone's wealth to be around $8 billion.

Political Involvement and Donations

Ken Langone is a big supporter and donor to the Republican Party. He calls himself a "loyal, enthusiastic Republican." He does not support ideas like single-payer healthcare, free college tuition, or guaranteed minimum income, seeing them as forms of "socialism."

Supporting Presidential Campaigns

Langone was part of a group of business leaders who supported Ross Perot's presidential campaign in 1992. He also advised Perot during that time. He has given large amounts of money to the Republican National Committee and other Republican-supporting groups.

In 2008, Langone supported Rudy Giuliani's campaign for president. He also helped raise money for Giuliani.

Langone donated a lot of money to efforts to defeat Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. He tried to convince Chris Christie to run for president. When Christie decided not to, Langone supported Mitt Romney. He did not like the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

In 2014, Langone compared some political ideas about taxing the rich to events in Nazi Germany. In July 2022, he helped start a group of business and policy leaders. Their goal is to improve relations between the U.S. and China.

Views on Donald Trump

For the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Langone first supported Chris Christie. He later praised Donald Trump and eventually donated to Trump's 2016 campaign. In 2019, Langone praised Trump for raising tariffs on China.

After a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Langone said Trump "completely mishandled the situation." However, he continued to support Trump's economic policies. After the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, Langone said he felt "betrayed" by Trump's actions. Despite this, he continued to support Trump and donated money to groups working against Democratic senators.

In December 2023, Langone supported Nikki Haley's campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He became a major donor to a group supporting Haley. However, after the Iowa caucuses in January 2024, Langone said he would not give more money to Haley unless she did very well in the New Hampshire primary. He believed Trump would likely win the nomination and said he would "probably" vote for Trump if he became the Republican nominee.

Personal Life and Giving Back

Ken Langone and his wife, Elaine Langone, have three children: Kenneth G. Jr., Stephen, and Bruce. They live in Sands Point, New York, and also have a winter home in North Palm Beach, Florida.

Langone is a very religious Catholic. He has given money to the church and served on the board of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Pope Benedict XVI made him a knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. He has expressed disagreement with some statements made by Pope Francis about helping the poor.

Helping Others Through Philanthropy

Ken and Elaine Langone were among the first people to sign The Giving Pledge. This is a promise by wealthy individuals to give away most of their money to charity.

Langone has donated $300 million to the NYU School of Medicine and NYU Medical Center. The medical center was later named NYU Langone Health in his honor. This includes a $100 million promise in 2018 to make tuition free for all medical students at the NYU School of Medicine.

He has also been a member of the boards of trustees for organizations like the Harlem Children's Zone and the Robin Hood Foundation. He was on the board of Bucknell University from 1981 to 1996. He and his wife gave $11 million to the university in 1999 for a new sports center. Between 2013 and 2017, they gave about $42 million more to the university.

In 2019, he donated over $5 million to the Animal Medical Center of New York in New York City.

Awards and Recognition

In 2024, Ken Langone received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

In Movies and Documentaries

Ken Langone has been shown in popular media. Actor Ray Iannicelli played him in the 2017 HBO movie The Wizard of Lies. In the film, Langone turns down an offer to invest money with Bernie Madoff, a famous Wall Street swindler. Langone is also featured a lot in the documentary Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. In this film, he talks about his strong disagreement with former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.