Daryl Harms
Daryl Harms (born c. 1952 - died July 2005) was a Birmingham entrepreneur, best known for founding Masada OxyNol, a company that worked to convert landfill waste into ethanol.
Harms began selling cable television service in suburban locations in 1974, filling a gap left by providers that targeted rural and urban customers. He built the third-largest privately-held cable company before he sold for a significant profit and moved on to cellular telephones. Harms and Gordon Page founded Cass Cellular in 1988, focussing on establishing service in rural areas of the midwest that were under-served by major carriers. He realized another large return when he sold the last of those properties in 1992.
Beginning in the early 1990s Harms began building the Masada Resource Group with the idea of contracting with municipalities to build plants and then operating them for profit by offsetting the costs of garbage collection and processing by producing marketable ethanol as well as other recyclable by-products.
References
- Welles, Ed. (May 1, 2003). "The Door-To-Door Billionaire Daryl Harms knows how to turn dull businesses into big profits. But can he really do it with your garbage?" CNNMoney.com.
- Cahn, Dianna. (September 15, 2004) "Fate of Masada project up in the air." Times Herald-Record.