Sheridan Garrison, founder of American Freightways, dead at 69

Sheridan Garrison, the founder of the American Freightways trucking line, which was acquired in 2001 by FedEx Corporation, was found dead today at a northern Arkansas pond. Garrison was 69. Boone County Sheriff Danny Hickman says Garrison`s body was recovered this morning from a pond in the northern part of the county. Foul play is not suspected, but an autopsy is planned. American Freightways` revenues for 2000 were 1.4 billion dollars and the company that year had 17-thousand employees nationwide. After the FedEx acquisition in 2001, Garrison served on the FedEx board until his retirement last September. Hickman says Garrison had gone to a hunting lodge Tuesday night and the next day farmers noticed a boat floating on a four-acre lake on the property. Hickman said Garrison suffered from Parkinson`s disease, but it was believed that the trucking magnate simply fell out of the boat. The body showed no obvious signs of injury, and an autopsy was planned at the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock. In 2002, the University of Arkansas inducted Garrison into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. Garrison had donated one (m) million dollars to Harrison schools for a football stadium and in recent weeks had donated land to put it on, Hickman said.