F. Sheridan Garrison, 69; Trucking Exec Founded...
F. Sheridan Garrison, 69; Trucking Exec Founded American Freightways
F. Sheridan Garrison, 69, founder of American Freightways, one of the leading trucking lines in the United States, died Thursday in Harrison, Ark.
Garrison, who had Parkinson’s disease, was found dead in a pond near his home after apparently falling from his boat.
A native of Harrison, Garrison graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 1955 with a degree in marketing.
He then went to work for his father’s trucking company, Garrison Motor Freight, where he drove a truck, worked on the docks, kept the books and set up a new accounting system.
After his father’s death in 1966, Garrison bought controlling interest in the company, which he sold in 1979. In 1982, he founded American Freightways.
In January 2001, Forbes magazine named American Freightways one of America’s 400 best big companies, ranking it 127th overall and tops in the trucking category.
The company merged with FedEx in 2001 in a deal valued at $950 million.
A strong supporter of the University of Arkansas, Garrison donated $1 million in 2002 to the university’s Sam M. Walton College of Business.
