Former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay died early Wednesday morning after being transported to Aspen Valley Hospital, officials say.
Pitkin County Sheriff’s deputies and Basalt ambulance workers responded to Lay’s Old Snowmass home at 1:41 a.m. for a “medical emergency,” said Joe DiSalvo, of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
Lay was admitted and then pronounced dead in Aspen Valley Hospital’s emergency room at 3:10 a.m., said Nell Strijbos-Arthur, hospital spokeswoman.
An official at Enron said because of downsizing there is no one at the company who could comment about the death.
Houston’s KPRC Local 2 reported that Lay died of a massive heart attack.
Aspen Valley Hospital Director of Operations John Schied said not all of Lay’ next of kin have been notified by the Pitkin County Coroner’s Office.
Doctors said his heart simply “gave out” and the death was unexpected, KPRC reported.
Lay was found guilty on May 25 on six counts of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in a case born from one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history, the station reported.
He was to be sentenced on Sept. 11, KPRC reported.
Lay was allowed to remain in Aspen and Houston on a $5 million bond.
He once owned four high-end homes in the Roaring Fork Valley but sold them – netting $12.3 million after Enron’s collapse.
In 1999, Lay and 87 other benefactors donated $100,000 each to the Aspen Music Festival and School. He also donated $440,000 over four years to the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. He failed to give his pledge of $550,000 the fifth year.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
