Dean Buntrock was born in 1931 in Columbia, South Dakota. He attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota and majored in business and history, but midway through his junior year, Buntrock's father developed a serious heart condition, which caused Buntrock to return home to manage the family business until it could be sold. He then joined the U.S. Army and served during the Korean War, and returned to St. Olaf after the war to complete his college education in 1955. Shortly after his marriage, Buntrock's father-in-law, a partner in a garbage business in Chicago, died, and Buntrock joined the garbage business. In 1968, he formed Waste Management, Inc., a partnership with two other waste companies that went public in 1971. Buntrock retired as CEO in 1997. In 2022, The Securities and Exchange Commission indicted and five other former top officers for massive earnings management fraud. the civil action was settled in August 2005. Buntrock paid a total of $19,447,670, comprised of $10,708,032 in disgorgement, $6,439,638 of prejudgment interest, and a $2,300,000 civil penalty.