Steve Berrard, who built AutoNation and Blockbuster with Wayne Huizenga, dies at 66
In 1999, the Miami Herald called H. Wayne Huizenga and Steve Berrard “the best-known executive duo in South Florida.”
When Huizenga died at age 80 in Fort Lauderdale in 2018, Huizenga’s obituary noted that he was “the only entrepreneur ever to launch three Fortune
500 companies: Waste Management, Blockbuster Entertainment and AutoNation.”
Steve Berrard, who died suddenly at 66 in Charlotte, North Carolina, on June 7, was instrumental in Huizenga’s success for 19 years officially — and behind the scenes for many more.
THEIR BUSINESS VENTURES
Berrard was the co-founder, with Huizenga, and co-chief executive officer of AutoNation from 1996 to 1999. AutoNation grew out of the former Republic Industries used-car business that Berrard had run. AutoNation adjusted the formula to provide new, used and rental automobiles by consolidating what was a highly fragmented car business.
Prior to building AutoNation with Huizenga, Berrard was president and CEO of another one of their brainstorms — Blockbuster Entertainment Group. Blockbuster became the world’s biggest home video store chain.
Berrard was also president of Huizenga Holdings, Inc., a real estate management development company, and he served in many positions with subsidiaries of Huizenga Holdings from 1981 to 1987.
Huizenga “has the vision and ideas,” Berrard told the Miami Herald in 2006 when he partnered again with Huizenga in another business venture, the Charlotte-based Swisher Hygience Franchise Corp., to market products that clean and sanitize restrooms.
“I’m a good facilitator. I think it’s a pretty good combination,” Berrard said at the time.
When the pair mutually agreed that Berrard would step down from AutoNation in 1999, Huizenga gave credit to Berrard for making AutoNation a more than $20 billion business. “Steve’s done a great job. No one else could have done what we’ve done,” Huizenga told the Herald.
Huizenga had the public profile and dominated strategy while Berrard was strongest on implementation, the Herald noted. “Huizenga had the energy and charisma that wooed investors and won over adversaries. Berrard had the drive at Blockbuster.”
That description just about covers it, according to Tom Hawkins, who was general counsel at Blockbuster and senior vice president of corporate development at AutoNation under Berrard and Huizenga.
‘INSTRUMENTAL IN WAYNE’S SUCCESS’
“He was instrumental in
Wayne’s success and Wayne would say that if not for Steven he would not have been able to grow Blockbuster the way he did and AutoNation the way he did,” Hawkins said. “Steve was an integral part of all of that from the transactions he worked on, and the acquisitions at Blockbuster he worked on, and the core base of AutoNation today. Those are the dealerships that Steve orchestrated the acquisition of.”
Huizenga was considered “the father of both hockey and baseball in South Florida,” his obituary read. He was the original owner of the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers. Huizenga also owned the Miami Dolphins franchise and maintained a 5% interest in the team and its stadium in Miami Gardens after he sold to Stephen Ross.
But even there Berrard, who did not enter into the sports ventures with his buddy, helped steer his pal behind the scenes.
“They were very tight and everything Wayne did outside Blockbuster and AutoNation, like buying the Dolphins and even buying the stadium, he was Wayne’s consigliere,” said Hawkins, who delivered the eulogy at Berrard’s funeral on June 11. “He was advising Wayne on all the things he did because he was Wayne’s closest adviser.”
MENTOR AND PHILANTHROPIST
So while the Herald’s description of the partnership just about covered it, there was more to Berrard, Hawkins noted.
“He was a kind, caring human. He touched so many lives throughout the course of his years in South Florida as a mentor to so many people and for all of his philanthropy in South Florida.”
Berrard helped support Boys & Girls Clubs in South Florida, the United Way, Best Buddies and also helped fund student scholarships at his alma maters, Florida Atlantic University and Broward Community College.
“He was not just a successful business person but a successful human being and that is hard to find people who can do both,” Hawkins said.
BACKGROUND
Berrard was born in Long
Island, New York, to parents who worked in the hospitality industry and moved multiple times. Berrard went to a boarding school in the Bahamas before his family settled in Plantation, where he enrolled at Plantation High. There, he was a linebacker and captain of the football team in his senior year.
He enrolled at Florida Atlantic University after graduating from Broward Community College. He later led a campaign that raised $12.5 million in scholarship funds for BCC.
In 1976, he began his career in the Fort Lauderdale offices of Coopers & Lybrand (later PicewaterhouseCoopers) and eventually found his way into Huizenga’s circles when he worked for one of his future partner’s family companies.
When Huizenga offered him a better job, Berrard wasn’t sure at first, the Herald reported in 1999.
He told Huizenga he was on track to become a partner in the company and would have a “good salary for life.”
Huizenga countered with a promise: 5% partner in all ventures.
“I didn’t realize what it meant at the time but it wound up to mean a hell of a lot,” Berrard told the Herald.
Success brought Berrard a multimilion-dollar home in Fort Lauderdale, travel on private jets and friendships with Hollywood royalty like the late producer Aaron Spelling of “Dynasty” fame.
In 2005, Berrard moved with his family to North Carolina. At the time of his death, he was chief financial officer and on the board of directors of RumbleOn, an e-commerce company that sells preowned cars online.
SURVIVORS, SERVICES
Berrard’s survivors include his parents, Edward Berrard and Elfriede Berrard; his wife, Sarah Monique; his children, Michelle Berrard, Megan Berrard Miehe, Brittany Butler Berrard, Blake Berrard and Brooklyn Berrard; and his grandsons, Maxwell and Henry.
Services were held June 11 in North Carolina.