First Watch co-founder, former CEO dies at 70

The leadership — and life — lessons people absorbed and learned from working with, knowing and being around longtime restaurant executive Ken Pendery were legion. Some teachings were simple and obvious. Others were more nuanced.

Be nice. Treat everyone with respect. Don’t over complicate or over-think solutions. Always do the right thing. Those were just some of the phrases Pendery lived by, and taught to others, both by example and in conversation. 

Pendery died Monday, surrounded by family in his home in Denver, after a battle with Multiple System Atrophy, a rare neurological disorder. He was 70.