Dennis Grady's job is to sell the Palm Beaches and said Wayne Huizenga made his life so much easier.
"When you talk baseball, football, hockey, it's hooked to the name Huizenga," said Grady.
Grady who is the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of The Palm Beaches, said Huizenga's ownership of the Miami Dolphins and his founding of the Florida Marlins and Panthers, made South Florida a sports destination, bringing new waves of tourists here.
"It's really a Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County region that encompasses a large number of permanent residents but attracts people from around the world."
Huizenga died March 22 at the age of 80. But his legacy will live on through his family. His son Wayne Huizenga Junior will always have fond memories of his dad.
"I think it's a drive, extraordinary people what he surrounded himself with, and then a lot, a lot of hard work."
That hard work started when his dad got a job as a garbage man.
"The kids used to laugh at me when I was in elementary school Tania, and they would say my father is a policeman, my father works at an auto part store, my father is a garbage man. The kids would laugh and the teacher would say, quiet children."
But Huizenga saw opportunity everywhere, starting in garbage with Waste Management Inc. Then, in movie rentals with Blockbuster Video and cars with Autonation. His son told me success never changed him.
"If you met my dad as the valet at a restaurant or you met my dad in the capacity as the CEO of a fortune 500 company, that both of you met the same man. He was so down to earth."
A public memorial was held Thursday morning at the Broward Center For The Performing Arts.
