Dennis Ray Albaugh (born 1949 or 1950) is an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, and the founder and chairman of Albaugh LLC, a pesticide and fertilizer company. He is a car collector, especially

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

s, and owns one of the biggest collections of Chevy convertibles in the US.

Early life

Albaugh is the son of Dean Floyd Albaugh and Lorna Lee Albaugh (née Markert, 1929–2017). His parents farmed near Rockwell City and Somers, Iowa, and later moved to rural Elkhart and Ankeny. He is the second of four children: Mickey, Dennis, Sheryl, and Roland. Albaugh was born in Marco Island, Florida, and was educated at Des Moines Area Community College.

Career

Albaugh started in business in 1979, selling fertilizer and seeds. After Monsanto's patent ran out on glyphosate in 2001, the chemical used in their best-selling

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page fo ...

Roundup A roundup is a systematic gathering together of people or things. Roundup, Round Up or Round-up may also refer to: Agriculture * A muster (livestock) (AU/NZ) or a roundup (US/CA) is the process of gathering livestock. * Roundup (herbicide), a M ...

, Albaugh began to sell a generic version of the product and bought a factory in Argentina to make it at a competitive price, allowing him to expand the business worldwide. In 2008, his net worth was estimated by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' at .

Car collector

Albaugh LLC is based in Ankeny, as is Albaugh's collection of 150 classic cars, especially

convertibles. Albaugh started the collection with the purchase in 1998 of a 1957 Chevy Bel Air convertible from a golfing friend and told his wife he would stop when he completed the

Tri-Five In automobile parlance, Tri-Five refers to the 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevrolet automobiles, in particular, the 150, 210, Bel Air, and Nomad. Revolutionary in their day, they spawned a cult following that exists in clubs, websites and even entire ...

Chevrolets, the 1955, 1956 and 1957 models. His collection of about 150 vehicles, mostly convertibles, includes the Tri-Five Chevrolets as well as Chevy models from 1912 to 1975 and is housed in a garage in Ankeny. Albaugh is known to do mechanical work on some of the cars in his collection as time allows. When younger, his father had refused to let him buy a convertible, feeling they were not safe enough. According to Murl Randall, a Chevrolet historian and collector, the collection is "probably the best assemblage of convertible Chevys in the country."

Personal life

Albaugh is married to Susan. They have two daughters and live in Ankeny, a suburb of

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, Iowa. In August 2018, he sold his house in Ankeny to Todd Rueter, an Elkhart businessman, for $2.32 million, having built a slightly smaller home nearby. He owns a private 19-hole golf course, Talons of Tuscany, in Ankeny.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albaugh, Dennis 20th-century births Living people American billionaires American company founders People from Ankeny, Iowa People from Marco Island, Florida American car collectors Year of birth uncertain