05:59 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Associated Press & Jason Whitely / 11 News

Lanier taken out on stretcher | Lanier loaded in ambulance| 11 News reporter Janice Williamson's 5 p.m. update | Mayor Bill White on Lanier's condition | 11 News at Noon coverage

HOUSTON -- Former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier collapsed at the memorial service of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay on Wednesday, after his heart-monitoring device detected an irregular heartbeat and shocked his heart back into a normal rhythm.

Lanier, 80, was taken out of the service on a gurney and to a hospital, where he was in stable condition Wednesday afternoon.

KHOU-TV

Former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier was put into an ambulance Wednesday outside of Ken Lay's memorial service.

11 News reporter Jason Whitely said Lanier smiled and waved to reporters when he arrived at the church.

But once inside the First United Methodist Church, the former mayor collapsed.

About 20 minutes before the service, Lanier fell suddenly as he and his wife, Elyse, approached their seats near the pulpit. The fall elicited shrieks from two women nearby.

Secret Service agents on hand for the arrival of former President Bush and his wife, Barbara, rushed to Lanier’s side, as did several men who pushed through the crowd announcing they were doctors.

A pastor announced to mourners that “their brother” had collapsed and asked the audience to pray while paramedics moved Lanier onto a gurney and out of downtown Houston’s First United Methodist Church. By then, Lanier was conscious and looking around as he was loaded into an ambulance.

Lanier served six years as Houston mayor from 1992-1998 and became known affectionately as “Mayor Bob.”

He was taken to the coronary care unit of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s hospital, where spokeswoman Kathy Watson said he was in stable condition and would stay for three days.

She said Lanier’s internal defibrillator discharged, “saving his life.”

“The function of the defibrillator is to monitor the heart’s rhythms,” she said. “He had an irregular heartbeat. The defibrillator shocked it back into a normal rhythm.”

Lanier was treated for a similar problem in 2001. Lanier underwent triple-bypass surgery in 1998, three months after suffering a mild heart attack while vacationing in California.

Lanier family spokeswoman Barbara Mendel said the former mayor was awake and alert at the hospital.

“He’s in good spirits. He has not lost his sense of humor,” Mendel said.

Lanier testified as a character witness for Lay during the Enron founder’s fraud and conspiracy trial, which ended May 25 with Lay’s conviction.

“I thought Ken was visionary for Enron, visionary for the city,” Lanier said on the stand.

Lanier said he never recalled seeing Lay do anything selfish, and he also said he believed Lay would have made a good mayor.

“He was straight as a string with me,” Lanier told jurors.

Lanier, a developer, heads the annual Lanier Public Policy

Conference at the University of Houston.

Lanier, who served three terms before Lee Brown, was a prominent developer who won a hard-fought initial election in 1991 before coasting to his next two terms. He was barred by term limits from seeking a fourth two-year term in 1997.

He and Lay were two of Houston’s biggest powerbrokers in the 1990s. Lanier pushed hard for legislation that allowed the construction of three new sports stadiums, including the Houston Astros ballpark, which was initially named Enron Field until the company’s collapse in 2001.

Lanier’s wife, Elyse, was recently named a commissioner with the Port of Houston Authority. She and daughter, Courtney Lanier Sarofim, are fixtures in Houston’s social scene.