Loyalty to one's alma mater seldom goes so far as it has with Al Warrington IV, a 1958 graduate of the University of Florida. The co-founder of Houston-based Sanifill, which through several mergers became Waste Management Inc., has just committed $75 million to the school, bringing total Warrington gifts to the university up to $100 million.
University of Florida president Bernie Machen announced the commitment from Warrington and his wife, Judy, on the Gainesville, Fla., campus Friday night, noting that the $75 million, plus previous donations, makes the Warringtons the university's first $100 million donors.
The $75 million, plus previous donations, makes the Warringtons the university's first $100 million donors.
The funds are earmarked for the Warrington College of Business Administration, the school named for the retired accountant following a $12 million endowment that Warrington made in 1996. In 2009, he committed an additional $16 million to the business college.
The first in his family from Pennsylvania to graduate from college,Warrington began his career with the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Florida. He left that business in 1989 to form the environmental company Sanifill Inc., which developed and operated non-hazardous solid waste landfills. Today, Waste Management Inc. is one of the largest environmental services companies in the nation. Its headquarters are in Houston.
Warrington is also one of the founders of House of Cheatham Inc., an Atlanta-based health and beauty aids manufacturer.
The dramatic Century Tower on the University of Florida at Gainesville campus.
