Thomas Creigh, Jr

Thomas Creigh, Jr., former CEO of KN Energy, Inc., Dead at 90

Thomas Creigh, Jr., a philanthropist and retired chairman and chief executive officer of KN Energy, Inc. died at his home in Hastings, Nebraska on May 28, 2002. He was 90.

Services will be Friday, May 31, 2002; 10:30 A.M. at French Memorial Chapel, Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska with Rev. Dr. Carl W. Utley and Dr. Phillip L. Dudley, Jr. officiating. Burial will be in Parkview Cemetery, Hastings, Nebraska. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be directed to the Hastings College Foundation.

Mr. Creigh served as chairman and chief executive officer of KN Energy, Inc., a multi-state natural gas production and distribution company now known as Kinder Morgan, Inc. Mr. Creigh joined KN Energy as one of its first employees in 1936 and retired as chairman in 1986. KN Energy was based on the premise that a market for natural gas service could be developed in the small communities and rural areas of Kansas and Nebraska. This strategy was contrary to conventional wisdom at the time, which held that a profitable pipeline operation must service a more densely populated area. During his career, Mr. Creigh oversaw the expansion of the company from a small rural natural gas utility that was known within the industry as "Fisher's Folly" (after its founder, L.E. Fisher) because of its challenge to conventional wisdom, to a multi-state, New York Stock Exchange-listed energy company with $500 million in annual revenues. In 1989, Mr. Creigh was elected to the Nebraska Business Hall of Fame.

Mr. Creigh was also active with a number of educational and charitable organizations. He was a trustee of Hastings (Nebraska) College, the University of Nebraska Foundation, the Museum of Nebraska Art, the Nebraska State Historical Foundation, the Nebraska Council on Economic Education and the Nebraska Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, among others. Mr. Creigh had won numerous awards recognizing his philanthropic leadership during his lifetime. In 1980 he received an honorary degree from Wabash College.

Mr. Creigh's wife, the award-winning Nebraska author and historian Dorothy Weyer Creigh, died in 1982. Mr. Creigh was born in Evanston, Illinois and was educated at Mercersburg Academy and Wabash College.

Mr. Creigh was preceded in death by his parents and his wife.

Survivors include,
Daughter: Mary Elizabeth Creigh Pfeil - Philadelphia, PA
Sons: Thomas Creigh, III - Hastings, NE
John W. Creigh - Grand Island, NE
James C. Creigh - San Francisco, CA
Sister: Mrs. David Livingston - Nahant, MA
9 Grandchildren