Succession, stalled after CEO's accidental death, finds happy ending

An established Pasco waste hauler, with a colorful backstory, is now armed with a potent parent company. Its strategy to win hearts and minds starts with top-notch service.

By Mark Gordon
| 5:00 a.m. April 12, 2019
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Mark Wemple. Brothers Jamey and Dave Parker recently sold their family business, New Port Richey-based J.D. Parker & Sons, to Longwood-based Waste Pro. They remain with the business.

Strategies

J.D. Parker survived a lot to grow his family-run waste collection company, from recessions to regulations to even the Mafia allegedly trying to muscle him out of business. The second generation to run the company, Parker took over from his dad, John Henry Parker. The elder Parker started the business in 1949 by taking his and his neighbor’s trash to the Pasco County dump — for 25 cents a can.

Then, around the time J.D. Parker sought to sell the company for good, in September 2010, he died in a tragic accident on the job: a truck rolled over him while he was under it, working on the brakes.