Dennis Washington | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 27, 1934 |
| Occupation(s) | Owner, The Washington Companies and Seaspan Marine Corporation |
| Spouse | Phyllis Washington |
| Children | 2 sons |
Dennis R. Washington (born 1934) is an American billionaire industrialist who owns, or co-owns controlling interests in, a large consortium of privately held companies collectively known as the Washington Companies and, in Canada, another collection of companies known as the Seaspan Marine Corporation.
Born in Spokane, Dennis Washington grew up in Spokane, Bremerton, Washington, and Missoula, Montana. [1] His parents separated when he was very young, and Washington lived with his mother. He rarely saw his father, who worked in construction overseas. Washington did not grow up in a wealthy family. Additionally, he states his parents' divorce as his motivation to provide his own wife and children with a stable family environment. [2]
Following graduation from high school, Dennis Washington worked in construction in Alaska and Montana. He began his business career at age 30 in 1964, with a $30,000 loan and a single bulldozer [ citation needed ]. He created Washington Construction, which worked primarily on highway contracts, and by 1969 was the largest contractor in Montana.[ citation needed ]
In the 1970s he moved into mining and dam construction. In 1986 he acquired a copper and molybdenum mine at Butte, Montana. He reopened the mine and it became a profitable operation. This success helped him diversify into railroads, marine services, coastal shipping, aviation and real estate. In 1996 Washington Construction acquired global construction and engineering company Morrison-Knudsen Corporation [3] of Boise, Idaho, creating Washington Group International.
The Washington Companies are a group of individual privately held companies headquartered throughout the United States and western Canada and conducting business internationally.
Included in the Washington Companies' [4] holdings are:
Together with his spouse, Washington contributed $1 million to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. [5]
Washington is married to Phyllis and lives in Missoula, Montana. His son, Kyle Washington, is co-chairman of Seaspan Marine Corporation. [6]
Washington also owns a private estate on Stuart Island, British Columbia, including a fishing lodge and golf course. The Washington–Grizzly Stadium for football at the University of Montana is named for him. [7]
His private yacht Attessa IV has been featured in Forbes magazine. [8] He has a Boeing Business Jet, 737-700 registration N162WC. [9]
| Year | Association | Category | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | American Academy of Achievement | Golden Plate Award | [10] | |
| 1993 | — | Host; ceremony held in Glacier National Park, Montana | [11] | |
| 1995 | Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans | Horatio Alger Award | [12] | |
| 1996 | Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) | Ellis Island Medal of Honor | [13] | |
| 2007 | Mining Foundation of the Southwest | American Mining Hall of Fame | Inductee | [14] |
| 2012 | Maritime Museum of British Columbia (MMBC) | SS Beaver Award for Maritime Excellence | ||
Marcus Daly was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the four "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States.
Butte is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers 718 square miles (1,860 km2), and, according to the 2020 census, has a population of 34,494, making it Montana's fifth-largest city. It is served by Bert Mooney Airport with airport code BTM.
Western Montana is the western region of the U.S. state of Montana. The most restrictive definition limits western Montana only to the parts of the state west of the Continental Divide. Other common definitions add in the mountainous areas east of the divide including Beaverhead, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Madison, and Park Counties. The region is sometimes considered to be part of the Inland Northwest.
The Missoulian is a daily newspaper printed in Missoula, Montana, United States. The newspaper has been owned by Lee Enterprises since 1959. The Missoulian is the largest published newspaper in Western Montana, and is distributed throughout the city of Missoula, and most of Western Montana.
Walter Scott Jr. was an American billionaire businessman, civil engineer, philanthropist, and CEO of Kiewit Corporation. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated at US$4.2 billion.
Seaspan ULC provides marine-related services to the Pacific Northwest. Within the Group are three (3) shipyards, an intermodal ferry and car float business, along with a tug and barge transportation company that serves both domestic and international markets. Seaspan, is part of the Washington Companies that are owned by Dennis Washington. Kyle Washington, is the Executive Chairman of Seaspan, who has become a Canadian citizen.
Frederick "Fritz" Augustus Heinze was an American businessman, known as one of the three Copper Kings of Butte, Montana, along with William Andrews Clark and Marcus Daly. Contemporary assessments variously described him as an intelligent, charismatic but also devious character. To some people in Montana, he was seen as a hero for standing up to the Amalgamated Copper Company, but he also eventually sold his Butte interests to Amalgamated for a reported $12 million. Thereafter, he played a significant role in the Panic of 1907, for which he was indicted but eventually exonerated. Ultimately, Heinze's flamboyant, hard-drinking lifestyle resulted in a hemorrhage of the stomach thought to be caused by cirrhosis of the liver, and he died in November 1914, aged 44.
On April 21, 1920, during a miners strike in Butte, Montana's copper mines, company guards fired on striking miners picketing near a mine of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, killing Tom Manning and injuring sixteen others, an event known as the Anaconda Road massacre. His death went unpunished.
Washington Group International was an American corporation which provided integrated engineering, construction, and management services to businesses and governments around the world. Based in Boise, Idaho, WGI had approximately 25,000 employees working in over 40 US states and more than 30 countries. Its primary areas of expertise were: infrastructure, mining, industrial/process, energy & environment, and power. It was acquired by URS Corporation of San Francisco in November 2007 for $3.1 billion, subsequently purchased by AECOM.
Aviation Partners Inc. (API) is a Seattle-based private corporation that specializes in performance-enhancing winglet systems. The corporation was founded in 1991 and is owned by The Washington Companies.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the Amalgamated Copper Company from 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana. It was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest mining companies in the world for much of the 20th century.
David Lloyd Steward is an American billionaire businessman. He is chairman and founder of World Wide Technology, one of the largest African-American-owned businesses in America.
The Climax mine, located in Climax, Colorado, United States, is a major molybdenum mine in Lake and Summit counties, Colorado. Shipments from the mine began in 1915. At its highest output, the Climax mine was the largest molybdenum mine in the world, and for many years it supplied three quarters of the world's supply of molybdenum.
Harold Glenn Hamm is an American business magnate in the oil and gas business. He is known for extracting shale oil resources. As of February 4, 2022, Hamm's net worth is estimated to be US$49.3 billion, making him the 63rd wealthiest person in the world. He is the founder and chairman of Continental Resources. In 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney named Hamm as his energy advisor, and Hamm donated to and advised Romney's election effort.
Since its incorporation in 1885, Missoula, Montana has been one of the primary media markets in the state of Montana, beginning with the weekly newspaper the Missoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer. The Missoula single-broadcast over-air television media market has been the largest in Montana since 2002. Though Billings is the largest city in Montana, Missoula's single-broadcast over-air television media market includes Missoula, Ravalli, Granite, Mineral, Lake, Flathead, and Sanders and serves over 113,000 television homes (2011). Missoula is also home to the state's third largest daily newspaper, the Missoulian, and the state's largest alternative weekly, the Missoula Independent.
The Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company was a mining, smelting, and refining company which operated primarily in the state of Montana in the United States. It was established in 1887 and merged with the Amalgamated Copper Company in 1901. The Amalgamated Copper Company changed its name to Anaconda Copper in 1910, and became one of America's largest corporations. Historian Michael P. Malone has written, "Well financed and well managed, the Boston and Montana came to rank among the world's greatest copper companies."
Montana Resources LLP is an American mining company with headquarters in Butte, Montana. The company is owned by businessman Dennis Washington as a unit of The Washington Companies. The company employs about 350 people, and operates the Continental mine, an open pit copper and molybdenum mine at Butte. The Continental pit is the only active mining operation at Butte.
The 2014 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by head coach Mick Delaney in his third and final year and played their home games on campus at Washington–Grizzly Stadium. Montana participated as a member of the Big Sky Conference, of which they are a charter member. They finished the season 9–5, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish tied for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost in the second round to inter conference rival Eastern Washington.
The Washington Companies is the parent company of several independent entities. The company is privately held, and was founded by Dennis Washington. Current companies owned by The Washington Company include:
James Andrew Murray was an Irish-born entrepreneur from County Clare, Ireland. He moved to Ontario, Canada with his family as young boy. As a young adult he travelled west to California during the Gold Rush days and then moved north to the Montana Territory. It was in the Montana Territories where he found success mining the streams near Pioneer, a small camp between Missoula and Helena. He parlayed his success in mining to build a business empire that stretched throughout the Western United States, He owned mines, banks, resorts, office buildings and water companies in Idaho, Washington State, Nevada, Arizona and California. The largest of the water companies was the Cuyamaca Water Company located in San Diego, California. Murray's operator, Ed Fletcher, named one of the man-made lakes in the system Lake Murray. Fletcher was rebuked for this decision as Murray was superstitious about naming dams after men.