| Birth Name: | Garry Neil Drummond |
| Birth Date: | 8 June 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Sipsey, Alabama |
| Death Place: | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Resting Place: | Sipsey, Alabama |
| Known For: | The Drummond Company |
| Alma Mater: | University of Alabama |
| Children: | 5 |
| Parents: | Heman Edward Drummond Elza Eliza Stewart |
| Relatives: | Elbert Allen Drummond (brother) |
Garry Neil Drummond Sr. (June 8, 1938 – July 13, 2016) was an American heir, business executive, and philanthropist from Alabama. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer of the Drummond Company, a private coal company active in Alabama and Colombia.
Garry Neil Drummond Sr. was born in 1938 at Sipsey, Alabama.[1] [2] His father, Heman Edward Drummond, was the founder of the Drummond Company, a coal company, in 1935.[3] [4] Drummond started working in his father's coal mines at the age of fifteen.[3]
He graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.[5] [2]
In 1961, Drummond joined the family business, the Drummond Company, a coal company active in Alabama.[2] [6] He later served as its chief operating officer.[2] He served as its chairman and chief executive officer since 1973.[5] [2] [3] The company is active in coal-mining in Alabama and Colombia.[3]
In 1979-1980, with his brother, Elbert Allen "Larry" Drummond, and another executive, Clyde Black; he was indicted for bribing three Alabama legislators by supplying them with prostitutes.[3] [7] [8] [9] The three-month trial was dismissed by Judge Frank McFadden, and the record was sealed.[3] [7]
In the 1980s, Drummond began looking for coal in Colombia, even though the country was at war.[3] He established their first coal mine in 1995.[3] Shortly after, the FARC bombed the railway track which carried coal from the Drummond mine to their port off the Caribbean Sea.[3]
In 2013, Drummond planned to establish a new coal mine off the bank of the Black Warrior River near Birmingham.[3]
Drummond served on the board of directors of SouthTrust from 2001 to its merger with Wachovia in 2004.[2] He also served as the Director of the Alabama Coal Association.[2] Additionally, he was appointed to the National Coal Council by United States Secretary of Energy Donald P. Hodel in 1984, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan.[10] Later, he served as the Chairman of the Governor's Commission on Affordable Health Care.[2]
Drummond served on the Boards of Directors of the National Mining Association as well as the Economic Development Partnership for Alabama.[6] He was a member of the Alabama Academy of Honor since 1989, the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame since 1997, and the Alabama Business Hall of Fame since 2003.[6]
Drummond taught Engineering part-time at Walker College.[11]
Alongside Eugene Honeycutt and Harold Gene Anderson, Drummond invented a specific method for "open pit bench mining", which has been patented since February 5, 2013.[12]
Drummond served on the Executive Board of Directors of the Boy Scouts of America.[2] He also served on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, the University of Alabama.[3]
Drummond made donations to Republican politicians such as Richard Shelby, Terry Everett, Robert Aderholt, Butch Otter, Mike Rogers, Jo Bonner, as well as to the 2004 re-election of President George W. Bush.[13] He also donated to Coalpac, a political action committee for the National Mining Association.[13] He also donated US$50,000 to Bob Riley's 2002 gubernatorial campaign.[14]
Drummond was married and had five children.[5] As of 2015, Forbes listed Drummond as the wealthiest individual in Alabama, with an estimated wealth of US$980 million.[5] He died in Birmingham on July 13, 2016, at the age of 78 due to complications from cancer.[15]