The final collapse: Enron's Kenneth Lay passes away

According to a family friend, pastor Steve Wende, Lay had suffered a massive coronary, but state authorities at the exclusive ski resort of Aspen said the reason for his collapse would be determined by an autopsy.

Lay passed away just six weeks after his criminal conviction on six counts of conspiracy, wire and securities fraud over the collapse of the energy trading multinational, Enron. A jury at a Houston, Texas court found him instrumental in billions of dollars worth of accounting irregularities which prompted the collapse of Enron, once America's seventh largest company with more than $100 billion in annual revenue.

Each of Lay's convictions carried terms of between five and 10 years and he was expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Kenneth Lay is survived by wife Linda, five children and 12 grandchildren.

The son of a preacher from a small town in Missouri, Lay was born in Tyrone, Missouri. His parents had little formal education and Lay did what he could to supplement the family income, delivering newspapers and mowing lawns. He followed up an MA in economics from the University of Missouri with a doctorate at the University of Houston in 1970.

Starting his career with Exxon in 1965 as an economist, he also served with the US navy.