PEARSON, George Laurence
February 17, 1928 - April 6, 2022
We are very saddened to announce the passing of our husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather at 94 years after battling cancer for several years. George leaves behind his wife of more than 7 decades, Diane, his children Peter (Eve), Carol (Mel), Paul (Shan), grandchildren David (Diana), Michael, Andrew (Maya), Nancy, Steven, Laura (Stephen), Neil (Farrah) and Phaedra (Matt) as well as 5 great-grandchildren.
George (know as "Larry" in his younger days and to his U.S. friends) was born in Port Angeles, WA to Petrus and Helen Pearson in 1928. His early years were spent in a logging camp at Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park. At age 10, his family moved into the town of Port Angeles, where he attended elementary and high school. He joined the U.S. Navy immediately upon graduation, spending 2 years working as an electronics specialist. From there, it was onto studying economics at the University of Washington. Here he met his future wife, Diane and after graduation for both, they began a 70-year adventure together. They married and moved to Boston where George attended Harvard Business School. His first position after HBS was working in Ocean Falls, BC on the water grading and measuring logs with Crown Zellerbach Canada. He had more than a few dunks in the Pacific Ocean during this time! George quickly moved on to other company operations in B.C. Career highlights include senior vice-president with Crown Zellerbach U.S. in San Francisco, and president and CEO of Crown Forest Industries. He retired in September 1990 as executive VP of Fletcher Challenge Canada, a mid-size company with 12,000 employees and several billion dollars in sales. His colleagues describe him as a good friend and advocate to all and a fine executive, with much integrity.
Retirement was when life really began. George and Diane were fortunate to have had over 30 years of a wonderful retirement. They built 2 new residences one in Bellingham, WA and another in Scottsdale, AZ and travelled back and forth until recently. His early retirement goals included learning how to cook, use the computer and spend more time with family. To no one's surprise, he achieved all with his usual grace, good humor and competence. He is famous amongst his grandchildren for his hospitality and appetizing meals - his hearty, tasty beef stew and spaghetti come to mind. And we all remember and were challenged by lively political discussions at the dinner table!
Other cherished family memories include happy hour on the patio watching the sunset over Camelback Mountain, golf with family at Ancala in AZ and Lake Padden in WA and family vacations to Whistler. Travel with Diane included holidays to Maui and elsewhere - some favourite destinations include Ireland, the New England states, the Maritimes and Scandinavian/Baltic countries.
We will miss him tremendously. He was a low-key, modest man, a careful thinker. George had a deep laugh, a gentle smile, a twinkle in his eye and a wonderful sense of humour. He was full of wisdom. We are proud to call him our husband, father and grandfather and will miss his unwavering support. He was always on the sidelines for his children's sporting endeavours. He was truly a gentleman and our patriarch. To us, he will always be the "top of the totem pole" as he was called at UW, back in the day. We are so very grateful for the many years we had with him.