Daniel H. Overmyer

Daniel Harrison Overmyer (December 6, 1924 – July 24, 2012) was an American businessman and warehouse mogul. During the height of his career, Overmyer was referred to as "the king of warehousing".^[1]

Overmyer founded and operated the D.H. Overmyer Warehouse Company which included more than 350 warehouses and 32 million square feet of space in North America and Europe. He also operated the Overmyer Communications Company. The OCC, as it was called, operated several UHF television stations in and around Northern Ohio which would make the affiliates of the Overmyer Network, a failed attempt by Overmyer to create a fourth television network. The Overmyer Network folded into the United Network in May 1967. That too proved unsuccessful and ceased operation in June 1967.^[2]

Early life and education

Overmyer was born on December 6, 1924 in Toledo, Ohio. Overmyer was the only child of Harrison Morton "Harry" Overmyer (September 4, 1888–June 4, 1960)^[3] and his wife Cora Belle Overmyer (November 11, 1887–December 14, 1963).^[4][5]

Overmyer's father, who was of German descent, owned and operated a chain of grocery stores in and around Toledo before he went into the warehousing business. His father founded the Merchants and Manufacturers Warehouse Co. which operated from Atlanta, Georgia until the mid 20th century.^[6]

Overmyer was also the great-great-great-grandson of Capt. John George Overmire. Overmire was a native of Germany who immigrated to America in 1751 who later went on to serve under then-General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Overmyer was also a distant cousin of a Civil War soldier and a descendant to Gov. William Bradford.^[7]

Overmyer, although born in Toledo, grew up in the nearby village of Ottawa Hills. He graduated from Ottawa Hills High School then attended and graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.^[1] During his time at Denison in 1943, Overmyer was drafted into the army. He served as a Private and a transport warrant officer during World War II. Overmyer helped with barge unloadings during the landings in Normandy on D-Day.^[8]

Career

Warehousing

Overmyer opened his first of many warehouses to come in 1947 in Toledo. His warehouse chain would soon expand to both Akron and Canton, Ohio. Soon after that expansion, Overmyer founded the D.H. Overmyer Warehouse Company which would further expand his company all over the state.

Soon as the 1960s and '70s came and passed, Overmyer's company expanded across the nation and soon across all of North America. Overmyer's warehouse included 350 warehouses and 32 million square feet of space in both North America and Europe.^[1]

Network television mogul

Overmeyer Communications Company

In 1963, warehouse mogul Overmyer turned his attention to television. On April 15, Overmyer filed an application for a new television station on Channel 79 in Toledo. He was 38 at the time, and Toledo had two stations already: WTOL-TV on Channel 11 (CBS) and WSPD-TV, (now WTVG) on Channel 13 (ABC), with NBC programming split between the two. The following February, with others having filed competing applications for Channel 79—one being Springfield Television Broadcasting Corp., which had begun expanding beyond its home territory in New England—the FCC set the matter for comparative hearings.^[9]

By September 1964, Overmyer was the only buyer seeking Channel 79. His other competitors dropped and went on to acquire other UHF television stations in Ohio. And on March 11, 1965, Overmyer received his permit to begin construction on the transmitter for Channel 79. He immediately requested the call letters WDHO-TV, incorporating his initials. In the interim, he negotiated deals to acquire dark station WATL/36 in Atlanta and the construction permits for WNOP-TV/74 in Newport, Kentucky and KBAY-TV/20 in San Francisco. He also applied for Channel 55 in Stamford, Connecticut, Channel 17 in Rosenburg, Texas and Channel 29 in Dallas. Overmyer also requested a waiver of ownership limits if all the stations owned were UHF, with the intent of acquiring the permit for the also-dark WAND in Pittsburgh.

The KBAY sale was approved in May 1965 simultaneously followed by the approval of the acquisition of WATL. The WAND sale was approved in July and the Rosenburg application in August. Overmyer withdrew his application for the acquisition of the Stamford network after his waiver request was denied. These four networks along with WDHO-TV would form the Overmyer Communications Company.

Overmeyer Network

WDHO signed on for the first time on May 3, 1966. Two months later on July 12, Overmyer announced plans to create a fourth television network to compete against the Big Three television networks. He named the network the Overmyer Network and hired former ABC president Oliver Treyz.^[10] Overmyer also received exclusive rights to the Continental Football League.^[11] He also had plans to begin a daily late-night talk show from Las Vegas. WDHO in Toledo and WPIX in New York were to be the Overmyer Network's flagship stations.

However, Overmyer and Treyz did not have enough finances to launch the network in the fall of 1967 as they had hoped. So in early 1967, Overmyer officials went to the board of directors of the Mutual Broadcasting System to discuss a merger of the two networks, requesting some $500,000 to crank up production of the late-night show, and more money to keep the network going until advertising dollars began to come in.^[10]

The Mutual board of directors turned down the merger proposal. But three Mutual stockholders; Texas oil operator Jack McGlothlin; grain dealer, oil investor and land developer Willard Garvey; and James Nichols, a Texas advertising and public-relations man; thought enough of the idea to form a separate group with 11 wealthy western businessmen to buy the Overmyer Network and rename it the United Network.^[10][12]

The United Network along with The Las Vegas Show hosted by Bill Dana premiered on May 1, 1967. Due to low ratings and costly bills and financial issues, the United Network folded exactly one month after it started on June 1, 1967.

Bankruptcy

In 1973, the Overmyer Communications Company folded when all but one of his acquired UHF stations shutdown operations. That same year, Overmyer's warehouses also began shutting down production and entered Chapter 11 in New York. In 1976, Telecasting in Toledo, another warehousing company Overmyer founded in 1966, filed a petition under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York also. This proceeding was dismissed in 1980 and appealed by Overmyer. The appeal was denied and, on the same day, Telecasting refiled under Chapter 11 in Cleveland, Ohio. On March 28, 1981, the Cleveland bankruptcy court awarded control of Telecasting to FNBB.^[13]

On August 7, 1981, the Overmyer leasing company, operating as Hadar, which also was in Chapter 11, filed a proof of claim for $859,481.80 in the Telecasting bankruptcy proceedings. This event would lead to the indictment of Overmyer.^[13]

On January 28, 1986, Overmyer and Edmund M. Connery were indicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The indictment charged Overmyer and Connery with six counts of bankruptcy fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud, and one count of mail fraud. Connery, charged in six counts, was granted a severance.^[14]

Overmyer was convicted by a federal jury in Akron and sentenced to five years in federal prison. He had the decision overturned only to have that decision appealed in the appellant court. In 1989, Overmyer was sentenced again, this time to six months in federal prison and fined nearly $850,000.

Personal life

Marriage and children

Overmyer married his wife Shirley in 1943. They had five children; John, Edward, Barbara, Elizabeth and Olga. Overmyer's daughter Barbara proceeded him in death. Overmyer and Shirley were married until Shirley's death in 1994.

Illness and death

In the mid-1980s, Overmyer and Shirley relocated to Denver. In 2009, Overmyer suffered a debilitating stroke. Shortly after, he moved to an assisted living facility in Tarzana, California to be closer to his son John. Overmyer died on July 24, 2012 at the Providence Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana. He was 87 years old. His funeral was held on Sunday July 29 at the Reeb Funeral Home in Sylvania, Ohio. He was buried in Toledo Memorial Park in Sylvania, Ohio.^[15]

References

External links

• Daniel H. Overmyer at Find a Grave