Posted on 12/21/2007 12:29:21 PM PST by LibWhacker
BELOIT, Wis. - A roofing company billionaire listed as the 91st richest man in the United States has died after a fall from a roof at his home.
Police say 66-year-old Ken Hendricks was checking construction on a garage roof at his home in Rock, Wisc., on Thursday night when he fell through.
His company, ABC Supply, says he suffered massive head injuries.
Police say Hendricks' wife called authorities and attempted CPR, but her husband was pronounced dead after being transported to Rockford Memorial Hospital in Winnebago County, Illinois.
Hendricks was the founder, chairman and CEO of ABC Supply, the self-described largest wholesale distributor of roofing in the United States.
Forbes magazine put Hendricks' net worth at $3.5 billion in September, making him America's 91st richest person.
But he seemed unfazed by his wealth.
"It doesn't make any difference to me: I can't spend it," Hendricks said in an interview with Inc.com in September 2006. "I'd have to sell the company, and I'll sell the company over my dead body."
Hendricks, the son of a Janesville roofer, worked side-by-side with his father growing up. A high school dropout, he started his own roofing business at age 21, according to his biography on ABC Supply's website.
Tired of having to deal with multiple suppliers scattered around the country, he and his wife, Diane, started a national supply distribution chain in 1982.
The Beloit, Wisc.,-based company celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, with 6,000 employees in 390 locations across the United States. It does about $3 billion in business a year.
"This is an enormous tragedy and a great loss to the family, associates and the community," ABC Supply said in a statement.
Hendricks and his wife also owned a variety of companies through the Hendricks Holding Co. and a property development group with more than 2.3 million square metres of industrial and commercial real estate.
Saw the article in Readers Digest. Good man, may he rest in peace!
What are they saying? Did he make his billions on the backs of illegal mexican roofers working for $10/hr with no benefits?
Oh man. This guy has done alot of local investment here in SE Iowa.
"It doesn't make any difference to me: I can't spend it," Hendricks said in an interview with Inc.com in September 2006.
Sadly that is a completely true statement today.
"I'd have to sell the company, and I'll sell the company over my dead body."
Now it will be the Estate Attorneys and Taxmen that will sell the company (literally) over your dead body, sir.
Sad day for the man's family and the employees of the company. Let the circling of the buzzards begin.
They will probably have to sell the company over his dead body to pay the taxes. Falling through a roof is a taxable event, don'tcha know. I figure it cost him about a $10,000,000.00 a foot, all the way down.
Mark 2:1-12 “And they lowered him through the roof.”
Yes, exactly, that kind of thing... He got rich by cutting back on building materials... Karma’s a b*tch, etc., the usual hatred they have for anyone who’s not a slacker.
Some business magazine (forget which one) recently named him as Businessman of the Year. IIRC, not only was he in the roofing supply business, he was also buying distressed local companies and turning them around.
Too bad. I give him credit for continuing to work. I’m sure it made for a happier and more fullfilling life.
Unless he was cagey and set up trusts and made his wife a full partner so that business can continue without a hiccup.
When it rains, it pours bodies, I guess.
About twenty years ago, UVM had a spate of frat boys falling from their respective houses.
RIP
FMCDH(BITS)
There’s a pretty good profile of the man here: http://www.abcsupply.com/uploadedFiles/ABC/Media/07-07%20RSI%20Profile.pdf
All of his 6,000 employees had his cell phone number. He drove a Jeep Cherokee...
A good antidote to envy of the rich. This could have happened to anyone, but it’s always healthy to remember, as this man himself did—there’s only so much you can spend, or at least, only so much you can actually enjoy. A billionaire can’t eat a thousand times as much as millionaire.
Definition of irony, like the fire station burning down.
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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts
NICE, article, thanks!
I'm sure that is how he made some of it! But most illegal roofers are paid piece work, no withholdings and no insurance, contract labor. Now that is where he made a lot of the money.
He started a major roofing material distribution business when nobody else was doing it. ABC Supply is all over the country. From what I can tell he was an honorable self made man.
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