Kenneth Langone

Kenneth Gerard Langone Sr., KSG (born September 16, 1935) is an American businessman and investor best known for co-founding The Home Depot. He has an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion according to Forbes.

Langone is a major Republican donor and fundraiser.

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. As a student at Bucknell University, Langone worked various jobs; a butcher's assistant, a caddy and a ditch digger. While at Bucknell, Langone became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After graduating in three and a half years, Langone headed back to New York, this time to Manhattan instead of Roslyn Heights. There he attended New York University Stern School of Business at night while working full-time during the day. That part-time evening program now bears his name, and is known as the "Langone Program" at NYU.

Business career

In the early 1960s, Langone began his career at a Wall Street financial services company named R.W. Pressprich. He soon became a “mover and shaker” in the firm, and a major factor in the development of new business. In 1968 Langone met and wooed Ross Perot into letting Pressprich handle Electronic Data Systems's IPO. In 1969, Langone would be named Pressprich’s president.