Garry N. Drummond, American coal executive, Died at 78

  Business

Garry Neil Drummond, Sr. was born on June 8, 1938, at Sipsey, Alabama, and died on July 13, 2016, in Birmingham.

He was an American heir, business executive, and philanthropist from Alabama.

Garry served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Drummond Company, a private coal company active in Alabama and Colombia.

Heman Edward Drummond, his father was the founder of the Drummond Company, a coal company, in 1935.

At the age of 15 Drummond started working in his father’s coal mines.

Garry graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

Garry N. Drummond joined the family business, in 1961, the Drummond Company, a coal company active in Alabama.

Then, later he served as its Chief Operating Officer.

Garry Neil Drummond has served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1973, which was active in coal-mining in Alabama and Colombia.

From 1979-1980, along with his brother Larry and another executive, Clyde Black.

However, Drummond was indicted of bribing three Alabama legislators, by supplying them with prostitutes.

His trial lasted 3 months, but it was dismissed by Judge Frank McFadden; after the record was sealed.

During the 1980s, he started seeking out coal in Colombia, even though the country was at war.

In 1995, Garry established their first coal mine.

But shortly after, the FARC bombed the railway track which carried coal from the Drummond mine to their port off the Caribbean Sea.

Garry N. Drummond planned to establish a new coal mine off the bank of the Black Warrior River near Birmingham, in 2013.

He also served on the Board of Directors of SouthTrust from 2001 to its merger with Wachovia in 2004.

Drummond also served as the Director of the Alabama Coal Association.

Also to that, in 1984, he was appointed to the National Coal Council by United States Secretary of Energy Donald P. Hodel, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Further down he served as the Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Affordable Health Care.

He served on the Executive Board of Directors of the Boy Scouts of America.

Drummond also served on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, the University of Alabama.

He was married, and had five children.

Garry N. Drummond passed away at 78 years old.