Dennis Washington

Washington was born in 1934 in Spokane, Washington, and moved as a young child to his mother’s hometown of Missoula, Montana.⁠[1]

During World War II his parents took jobs at a defense shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, and the family lived in government housing; he shined shoes for pocket money.⁠[1][2]

After his parents divorced he moved between relatives and schools in California, Washington and Montana, supported himself with odd jobs from age 14, and finished high school while living with his grandmother in Missoula.⁠[3]

The day after his high school graduation in 1952 he moved to Alaska, where he started by greasing equipment and later became a heavy-crane operator.⁠[2]

Two years later he returned to Montana to work for his uncle’s construction company; by 26 he was vice president of Montana’s largest construction company.⁠[3]

In 1964 he started Washington Construction with a $30,000 loan from a CaterpillarCaterpillarCaterpillar Inc. is an American maker of construction and mining equipment, engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives, organized in 1925 and headquartered in Irving, Texas.Open the full entry dealer.⁠[1][2]

His first job was a parking lot at the summit of Glacier National Park. By 1969 he was Montana’s largest contractor, and within ten years Washington Construction ranked among the largest construction companies in the nation.⁠[3]

In 1985 he bought a dormant copper mine in Butte, Montana, which returned to profitable production in 1986.⁠[1][3]

In 1988 he and his wife Phyllis established the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, which supports education, health and human services, community service, and arts and culture.⁠[1]

In 1996 Washington Construction merged with Morrison Knudsen, and he led the formation of Washington Group International, which went on to acquire parts of Westinghouse and Raytheon.⁠[3][1]

On November 15, 2007, URS Corporation completed its acquisition of Washington Group International for a total purchase price of about $3.1 billion, taking on Washington Group’s 25,000 employees.⁠[4][1]

As of November 4, 2026, ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry’ real-time billionaires list estimated his net worth at $8.9 billion, and he was Montana’s entry on Forbes’ 2026 list of the richest person in every state.⁠[2]

The Washington Companies is a group of privately held businesses in the United States, Canada and China spanning copper mining, marine transportation and heavy equipment; its current companies include Envirocon, Modern Machinery, Montana Resources, Seaspan Marine, Seaspan Shipyards and Southern Railway of B.C.⁠[1][2]

He also has an investment in Seaspan Corp., co-founded by his son, which operates more than 220 container ships.⁠[2]

He donated the 64,000-acre Washington Family Ranch in Oregon to Young Life, where it serves as a summer camp for hundreds of teenagers each year.⁠[3]

He received the Horatio Alger Award in 1995, the Norman Vincent Peale Award in 2012 and the Walter Scott, Jr. Award in 2024.⁠[3]

The Washington Companies: Official website: https://www.washingtoncompanies.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]