Former U.P. leader Kenefick dies
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110716/NEWS01/707169847
Erin Golden WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Until about a year ago, former Union Pacific Railroad CEO John C. Kenefick was still turning up at the company's downtown Omaha headquarters six days a week, dressed in a suit and tie.
He had officially retired in 1986, but Kenefick — an Ivy League-educated train engineer who served as the railroad's top executive for 15 years — could never quite let it go. Roaming the halls of the building, he would stop to talk with employees, pick up lunch in the cafeteria. And sometimes the man who led U.P. through deregulation and its first large merger was called in to provide perspective on major decisions.
Even when his health began to decline and he was confined to his home, he wanted to be in the loop. A friend and former co-worker who visited him regularly in recent weeks and months said Kenefick would never let him leave until he got the answer to one question: "How is the railroad running?"
Kenefick died Friday at his home in Omaha after several months of deteriorating health. He was 89.
