Wayne Huizenga
| Wayne Huizenga | |
|---|---|
Huizenga in the 1980s
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| Born |
Harry Wayne Huizenga December 29, 1937 Evergreen Park, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Businessman and entrepreneur |
| Known for |
Blockbuster Video, Waste Management, Inc., AutoNation, and Swisher Hygiene former owner of NFL's Miami Dolphins, the NHL's Florida Panthers, and MLB's Miami Marlins teams |
| Net worth | $2.6 billion |
| Spouse(s) |
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Harry Wayne Huizenga (/haɪˈzɛŋɡə/, born December 29, 1937) is an American businessman and entrepreneur. He has been involved in the founding of three Fortune 500 corporations and is responsible for six listed companies. He has also been an owner of three top tier professional sports franchises.
H. Wayne Huizenga is of Dutch descent. His parents, Gerrit Harry and Jean Huizenga, were both products of the Chicago Dutch community. Wayne was born at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, on December 29, 1937. He has one sister, Bonnie, who is five years younger. He attended Timothy Christian School until his mid-teens. In early 1953, the Huizenga family moved to Florida and settled in the Fort Lauderdale area.
The remainder of his high school years were spent at Pine Crest School, where he was a member of the football team and was class treasurer. After high school graduation he moved back to Chicago where most of his friends, grandparents and other relatives still lived. In 1956 he enrolled at Calvin College, a liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but he dropped out before the end of his sophomore year.
In September 1959, Huizenga enlisted in the Army reserve and spent six months in the service full-time to complete his basic training.
Returning to Fort Lauderdale, he started a garbage hauling business, as his grandfather had done in Chicago in 1894. Beginning with a single garbage truck in 1968, he grew Waste Management, Inc. into an entity that would become a Fortune 500 company. Huizenga aggressively purchased independent garbage hauling companies, and by the time he took the company public in 1972, he had completed the acquisition of 133 small-time haulers. By 1983, he grew Waste Management into the largest waste disposal company in the United States.
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