Kenneth Langone - Home Depot Founder Ken Langone

The story of Ken Langone could be found in a Horatio Alger novel. The rags-to-riches tales that inhabited Alger's text almost mirror Langone's life. While Langone wasn't quite as down and out as Alger's characters, he certainly didn't come from silver spoons and Park Avenue.

Ken Langone's story begins in Roslyn Heights, New York located about 20 miles outside of Manhattan. The son of a plumber and a cafeteria worker, Langone certainly didn't have an overwhelming sense of wealth while growing up. He wasn't the brightest student in school either - his principal told his parents not to bother sending Ken to college because they would be "wasting their money." The Langone's disagreed and sent their son off to Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. While working towards his degrees in both economics and political science, Langone kept in touch with his blue collar roots by supporting himself with various jobs: butcher's helper, caddy and even ditch digger. After graduating in three and a half years Langone moved on to NYU's prestigious Graduate School of Business. Again, staying true to his strong work ethic foundation, Langone worked full-time during the day at Equitable Life Assurance Company and pursued his MBA at night; attending evening classes four nights per week. After two years of classes Langone graduated and was fully prepared to enter the exclusive world of high business.

Ken Langone always had a sturdy sense of integrity, principles and ethics that guided his business and personal decisions. With these attributes in tow he joined Wall Street firm R.W. Pressprich & Co. He ascended the corporate ladder and found himself working on a deal with a wealthy Texan named Ross Perot. Langone took Perot's company, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) public at a significant profit and in the process solidified his presence on Wall Street. Fast forward to 1978. Ken Langone and a group of investors purchased shares in Handy Dan, a home improvement chain. After Langone personally inspected every single Handy Dan store he felt the industry could be improved. Langone and his group sold the Handy Dan shares back to the company and Handy Dan subsequently fired their CEO, Bernard Marcus. The Marcus firing turned out to be a blessing for both Marcus and Ken Langone. The pair teamed up and founded the national home improvement chain: Home Depot. Since its conception Home Depot has grown exponentially. It's home to over 300,000 employees, consistently ranks in the top twenty of Forbes' 500 list of top companies and reports over $70 billion in sales.

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