George was a pioneering real estate agent who helped develop Beverly Hills from a windswept piece of land "too far west of Los Angeles." He was born in 1900 and died in 1993, a spry, small man who did big things for his community.

He was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was raised on a ranch. He graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and began his career in the Texas oil­fields. Then his mother took a vacation in Southern California and told him the weather was nice and cool. That did it.

George came to Beverly Hills in 1921 at the age of 21. The population was 700. There was just one market, one drugstore and one hardware store. Westwood, just to the west of Beverly Hills, was a cattle ranch. George started buying real estate and by 1930, was planning to build a shopping center on the then sparsely settled Rodeo Drive. But the Depression began to drag down the economy, George went broke – and found out what it was like to own property that nobody wanted.

In 1932, although he had virtually no money, he did two remarkable things. He became one of the founders of the Economic Round Table. And he managed to acquire bonds for The Beverly Hills Hotel for a fraction of what they were worth. Only Bank of America had more shares in the hotel. He weathered the low point of the Depression by selling $4,000 lots to movie stars, including Tom Mix, Fred Astaire and Douglas Fairbanks. And in 1938, he negotiated the deals that placed the stores of Saks Fifth Avenue and Sloane's Furniture on Wilshire Boulevard. "I don't do it for the money," George said at the time. "I just love to make deals."

George's company grew through the years. At one point, he had more than 30 branch offices throughout Southern California. He became successful in mortgage lending, insurance and property management. He received multiple honors from many institutions – and played tennis twice a week into his nineties. He loved to take his grandchildren fly fishing and duck hunting at his Yosemite home. He died at the age of 93.