Dennis Washington parlayed an early love of machinery into a diversified business group called Washington Companies. Washington owns a copper mine, a regional railroad and a shipbuilding business. The day after high school graduation in 1952, he headed to Alaska where he started out greasing equipment, then became a heavy-crane operator. After working for his uncle's construction business, he struck out on his own with a $30,000 loan to start Washington Construction. He and his wife, Phyllis, have given some $960 million to their foundation, which in turn has doled out around $340 million to 1,200 groups.
