Business Mogul Wayne Huizenga Got His Start in Evergreen Park

MIAMI, FL — H. Wayne Huizenga, an Evergreen Park native who started his career with a single garbage truck and went on to become the only person to ever found three Fortune 500 companies and the first to own teams in three major sports, died Thursday at his South Florida home. He was 80 years old.

Born Dec. 29, 1937 at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Huizenga was the son of Gerrit Harry and Jean Huizenga, members of the Chicago Dutch community. He spent his childhood in the suburb, attending Timothy Christian School, founded as a school for the children of Dutch immigrants, before the family moved to the Fort Lauderdale area in 1953.

After arriving in Florida, Huizenga followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who had launched a Chicago garbage-hauling business in 1894. Starting with just one garbage truck in 1968, Huizenga built an empire, transforming Waste Management into a Fortune 500 company that became the largest waste disposal company in the country by 1983, according to ABC Chicago.

Via Miami Patch: Billionaire Businessman Wayne Huizenga Dies At 80

He repeated that success two more times, founding one-time movie rental giant Blockbuster Video before forming AutoNation — his third Fortune 500 business — in 1996.

Huizenga also made history as a sports mogul, becoming the founding owner of the Florida Marlins and the NHL's Florida Panthers before purchasing the NFL's Miami Dolphins in 1994.

Forbes estimated Huizenga's net worth at $2.8 billion, noting he launched his first waste pickup service just years after leaving Illinois, consolidating 100 other garbage pickup companies to form Waste Management within five years.

Calling Huizenga the "original Florida Marlin," the team, now known as the Miami Marlins, issued a statement Friday saying the Illinois native "will be remembered as much for his contributions to South Florida professional sports as he was for his many charitable endeavors in the surrounding community."

Photo: Owner of the Miami Dolphins H. Wayne Huizenga on the sideline against the Baltimore Ravens at Dolphin Stadium on October 19, 2008 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)