Robert George Obituary

Robert Stanley George passed away suddenly on Jan. 21. He was two weeks away from his 83rd birthday.

Born on February 8, 1942 in Watsonville Community Hospital, he was the first son of Stanley & Mary (Larkin) George of Watsonville, CA. At age 14, he received his first architectural drafting job and graduated Mora High School in 1959. After attending Cabrillo Junior College for a year, he matriculated to the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. Since then, he has not stopped talking about it.

In the same year, he moved to Washington, D.C. searching for adventure and work. He and three roommates rented a house and hosted way too many parties. At one of those parties, he was introduced to Jeanne Hurter, a flight attendant for Pan Am. They married in 1971.

They had two children and moved to California in 1977, while Robert served as a staff architect for the Federal Bureau of Prisons Western Region.

Bob, as he was known to his family and many friends & colleagues, spent his professional life and nearly his entire life, preaching the benefits of good building design and practicing the arts of kindness and good humor toward all that entered his orbit.

He held architecture licenses in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and California. In 1985, he served as president of the San Mateo County Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, an organization he joined soon after arriving in California. He was honored by being inducted into the College of Fellows in the AIA in May 1998.

For 29 years, he served energetically in the Rotary Club of San Bruno, including as president of the chapter in 1999-2000. He was named Rotarian of the Year in 2009-2010. The group's battle against polio was a point of pride.

He served on the San Bruno Planning Commission from 1984-1990, working as chairman of the commission from 1987-1988 and coordinating a design charrette for downtown San Bruno in 1986. Additionally, he was named to a San Mateo County Grand Jury in 2012-2013.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Jeanne; his brother Richard & Richard's wife Susan (Davis) George, of Tempe, AZ; his children Christopher (Kelly Ann Anthony) of North Andover, MA and Maureen (Scott), of Burien, WA; and two grandchildren, Dempsey and Rogan. He was preceded in death by his parents, Stanley & Mary, and his sister, Patricia, who was stillborn.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, the ALS Association and the Save the Children Foundation.

A viewing from 4 - 8 p.m. and Rosary at 6pm will be held for Bob on Thursday, January 30, at Duggan's Serra Mortuary. The funeral mass will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, January 31, at St. Augustine Church in South San Francisco, with a procession to Italian Cemetery in Colma for burial.