Wayne Huizenga

Entrepreneur who built Waste Management, Blockbuster, and AutoNation.

Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr. was an American businessman who founded AutoNation and Waste Management, Inc. He also owned or co-owned Blockbuster Video, Republic Services, and three professional sports teams: the Miami Dolphins, the Florida Panthers, and the Miami Marlins.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Harry Wayne Huizenga
Born: 29 December 1937
Birthplace: Evergreen Park, Illinois, U.S.
Died: 22 March 2018
Place of death: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Resting place: Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Education: Calvin College
Occupation: Businessman; entrepreneur

Facts from the source article.

Early life and education

Wayne Huizenga came from a Dutch family. His grandfather, Harm Huizenga, left the Netherlands for the United States and launched a trash collection business with a horse and wagon in suburban Chicago in 1894. Wayne was born on December 29, 1937, at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois, as the first child in a garbage-hauling family. In 1940, his family lived in a Berwyn, Illinois apartment. He had a younger sister, Bonnie. He attended Chicago Christian High School for his sophomore year. In 1953, his family relocated to the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, where his father worked as a building contractor. Huizenga finished high school at Pine Crest School, playing football and serving as senior class treasurer, graduating in 1955. He moved back to Chicago in 1956 and enrolled at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but left after three semesters. For roughly five years after high school, he worked low-wage jobs, then enlisted in the United States Army Reserve in September 1959, completing six months of active duty.

Career

In Fort Lauderdale, Huizenga started a waste management business similar to his grandfather's. A civil suit filed in November 1961 by Thomas Millwood alleged that Huizenga attacked him after Millwood refused his offer to haul trash, causing injuries including permanent damage to the testicles; a jury awarded Millwood $1,000. In 1962 Huizenga borrowed $5,000 from his father and bought used trucks from a rival to start Southern Sanitation Service. Beginning with one garbage truck in 1968, he created Waste Management, Inc., acquiring 133 small haulers by its 1972 initial public offering. He left Waste Management in 1984 and bought companies supplying portable toilets and water bottles. He repeated the acquisition model with Blockbuster Video, buying a handful of stores in 1987 and making it the leading U.S. movie-rental chain by 1994. In December 1992 he joined the Non-Group, a Miami-Dade business elite organization. In 1995 he invested $64 million of his own money and raised $168 million to acquire Republic Industries, becoming its chairman; it spun off Republic Services in 1998 and was renamed AutoNation, the largest U.S. automotive dealer. In October 2004 he sold Boca Resorts to The Blackstone Group for $1 billion, netting $192 million.

Personal life and death

Huizenga married Joyce Vander Wagen on September 10, 1960; they had two sons, Wayne Jr. and Scott, and divorced in 1966. They remained married until her death on January 3, 2017, after a fourteen-year battle with cancer. In May 2004 he bought a private luxury yacht from golfer Greg Norman for $77 million, adding a helipad for a 12-seat helicopter; Power & Motoryacht ranked it the 43rd-longest yacht in the world. He donated $4 million to Nova Southeastern University in 1999, which named its business school after him, and $1 million to Pine Crest School in 1996, which named its science building the Huizenga Science Building. In 2009 his family foundation donated a chapel to a Scout camp in Davie, Florida. Starting in the 1980s he acquired 2,000 acres north of West Palm Beach, establishing the Floridian Golf & Yacht Club in 1996 with a Gary Player–designed course. He renamed his yacht Floridian and sold the club and estate to Jim Crane in 2010. Huizenga died of an undisclosed cancer at his Fort Lauderdale home on March 22, 2018, aged 80.