Trucking company owner Garner dies
Garner Transportation Group co-founder and former American Trucking Associations Chairman Vernon Eugene Garner, 69, died Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, after a long fight with cancer, the trade association said.
Garner started Garner Trucking in 1960 to haul agricultural products, and gradually expanded to become a regional transporter of general commodities and logistics provider. In 1997, Garner and his wife formed Garner Transportation Group as an umbrella company for the various operations.
He was ATA’s chairman from 2002 to 2003.
Garner also served on the Truckload Carriers Association board of directors.
Five months ago Mac McCormick, founder and chairman of Bestway Express and chairman-elect of the American Trucking Associations, died in a single-engine plane crash.
Late last year, Johnnie Bryant Hunt Sr., who started with a single-truck and grew his business into one of the nation’s largest trucking firms, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, died.