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.
Looks like it was new construction. In oredr to fall through, the deck matl’s have to be shoddy. Wonder what that was?
Just because he got very rich doesn’t mean he hired illegals to do it...
Geeze...
Nope, he just sold the supplies to the owner of the companies that hire the illegal workers, he himself is a very honorable man who worked hard to get what he has got.
OSB is commonly used these days. It performs pretty poorly when wet.
No one ever MADE an illegal take a job.
Nope, but that would be like the owner of Home Depot being responsible for making money off illegal immigrants, and that isn’t right.
The man was a roofing contractor for twenty years before he started Abc, and he started it so he could get a better supply chain for his roofing business. Geeze!
I remember when ABC bought the old Globe Building Materials plant in St. Paul. They also had a felt plant in Wisconsin that continues to run today...
It is possible to run an honest business and be successful.
That’s the “Geeze!”
He didn’t do roofing Moron, he sold roofing materials.
Go back to DU where you belong.
A good friend that I went to Highschool with owns the largest roofing business in the SF Bay Area, and doesn't have a single illegal on his work force.
Now that’s irony.
RIP though...very tragic.
I’d bet that is the case. People with money are nuts not to have trust funds set up.
What are you saying?
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