George Wackenhut
| George Wackenhut | |
|---|---|
| Born |
George Russell Wackenhut September 3, 1919 Pennsylvania |
| Died | December 31, 2004 (aged 85) Vero Beach, Florida |
| Alma mater |
University of Hawaii Johns Hopkins University |
| Occupation | Founder of Wackenhut private security corporation |
| Spouse(s) | Ruth |
| Children | Janis Wackenhut-Ward, Richard R. Wackenhut |
| Parent(s) | William Wackenhut and Francis Hogan |
George Russell Wackenhut, (September 3, 1919 – December 31, 2004) was the founder of the Wackenhut private security corporation.
George Russell Wackenhut was the son of William and Francis (Hogan) Wackenhut, he grew up in Upper Darby, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1937. He was inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in 2000. He served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II and witnessed the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. He graduated from what is now known as West Chester University. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii. and a master's degree in education from Johns Hopkins University, then taught classes in physical education and health.
In 1951, Wackenhut joined the FBI as a special agent in Indianapolis and Atlanta, handling counterfeit money and bad-check cases and tracking down Army deserters. He resigned in 1954 to launch Special Agent Investigations in Coral Gables, Florida, with three other former agents - William Stanton, A. Kenneth Altschul and Miami lawyer and FBI agent Ed Du Bois, Jr., Following an infamous in-office fist fight with Du Bois in 1955, a professional split occurred and Du Bois went on to form his own company, Investigators, Inc., focusing on private investigations. In 1958, Wackenhut bought out his remaining partners, renamed the company after himself and expanded into the security guard field, and went public in 1965.
Even with a profit margin of 2.5 percent, the company's earnings, inflated by massive overbilling, allowed Wackenhut to live lavishly in homes scattered throughout the country. Prior to his move to Vero Beach, Florida in 1995, his primary residence was his "Tyecliffe Castle", in Coral Gables, near Miami. It was known in the Miami as Castle Wackenhut. It was, in 1995, a $10 million turreted mansion complete with moat, decorated with firearms and medieval suits of armor. His house was wired with infrared and laser sensors, closed-circuit television monitors and photo-cell surveillance and had private radios for his family. The 18,000 sq ft, 57 room Tyecliffe Castle was sold to Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford and was demolished about 2008. In 1994, The Quiet American, an 800-page authorized biography of Wackenhut by John Minahan, was published.
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