Kenneth Lay's legacy is a warning

Most of the coverage of Ken Lay's death remembers him as the mastermind of an elaborate corporate fraud. The San Francisco Chronicle's editorial is typical: "Because of Lay's accounting fraud, 5,000 jobs were lost, as well as $1 billion in employee pensions." And they comment, "Regrettably, Lay, who died at 64, will never spend time in prison to pay for what he did."

But Kenneth Lay was a more complex figure than that. In his private life, he was seen as a generous pillar of the community. He remembered he came from humble roots. His father was a shopkeeper who later became a minister. As a boy, his earnings from delivering papers and mowing lawns helped with the family finances. In his personal life, he remembered those lessons. Kevin Crowe in the Columbia Missourian put it, "Lay became known in Houston and beyond as someone willing to share the wealth. Universities, churches, museums and philanthropic associations all benefited from his, and EnronÂ’s, success."

Unfortunately, he was all too typical of the attitudes of this age. His virtues were a private matter. They didn't intrude on his public life. And when it came to running the business that became Enron, he did whatever would advance his company's profitability. And that high-flying success began to change his personal life. "We were living a very expensive lifestyle," Lay said during his trial. "It's the type of lifestyle that's difficult to turn off like a spigot."

The voice echoes on the wind: "he was seduced by the dark side." Perhaps there were people around him who knew "there is still good in him, I can feel it." But the support structures that could have nurtured that good, could have restrained the darkness, failed him. All those associations that benefited from his gifts: what did they give back to him? Who was in a position to give Ken Lay what he really needed?

They say "friends don't let friends drive drunk." Friends don't let friends destroy themselves. Friends don't let friends hurt others. But who was Ken Lay's friend? Who could have nurtured the good in him? They could have protected him... and the 5,000 people who lost their jobs.

Ken Lay's final legacy is a sad warning. It's a warning not to let the pursuit of success, achievement, or lifestyle turn us from the values we know are right. And it's a warning to intervene when we see that happening to others.