George A. Wiltsee

George A. Wiltsee, 98, of Newbury Court, Concord, MA, passed away October 3, 2021. He is survived by his wife of thirty-five years, Jean Baird, his sons George Jr., and Christopher, his stepchildren Katherine Duffy, Beth Holechek, Kevin Haney, and Sanda Twaalfhoven, three grandsons, three great-grandchildren, six step-granchildren and four step-greatgrandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Anne Tepas Wiltsee, his daughter Elizabeth, and his sister, Joan (Wiltsee) Lloyd.

Mr. Wiltsee was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, the son of Raymond B. and Margaret A. Wiltsee. He was educated in the public schools of Portsmouth. He was president of his freshman class, managing editor of the school newspaper, president of the French Club and the Latin Club, elected to the National Honor Society, and was first in his class academically. Mr. Wiltsee was first in a state-wide chemistry exam and was awarded the Bausch and Lomb honorary science award.

Mr. Wiltsee was admitted to Yale University in 1940, where he studied industrial administration. A resident of Berkeley College, he was also a member of York Hall fraternity (treasurer), manager of crew, and elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma XI, and Tau Beta Pi honorary societies. As a result of WWII, his class was accelerated and he was awarded his B.S., with honors, in June 1943.

Mr. Wiltsee was drafted into the U.S. Army in July 1943 and sent for training as intelligence sergeant in a newly formed anti-aircraft battalion. The battalion passed its proficiency tests in March 1944, and at that point the war had progressed to the point that infantry was more in demand than anti-aircraft, so the entire battalion was transferred to Texas for infantry basic training. After completing the training, Mr. Wiltsee was sent to specialized schools for infantry intelligence work. In December 1944, he was sent to Europe where he became intelligence sergeant of the First Battalion, 346th Regiment, 87th Division, part of Patton's Third Army, at that time in Luxembourg. The division participated in the Battle of the Bulge, the assault crossing of the Rhine, and the march across Germany, finding itself on the border of Czechoslovakia at the time of the German surrender.

In March 1946, Mr. Wiltsee was discharged from the Army, and entered the MBA program at Harvard Business School. He received his MBA in November 1947 and joined the Procter & Gamble company in the manufacturing headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1952 after five years of training at headquarters and in the Cincinnati factories in P&G's complex industrial engineering program, he was transferred to Manila, Philippines, to establish the industrial engineering function in what was at that time P&G's largest overseas factory. After it's completion, he became operations manager of the factory, and in 1961 he was transferred to Geneva, Switzerland to join a small group engaged in managing P&G business in developing countries mostly in Africa and the Middle East, where he oversaw manufacturing partners in such countries as Greece, Iran, Libya, Morocco, and Portugal. In 1964, he moved to Caracas, Venezuela to become director of manufacturing and product development of P&G Venezuela.

In 1968, Mr. Wiltsee resigned from P&G and joined the administrative staff of the Harvard Busines School. Over the next 23 years he was primarily involved with the development and operation of the school's rapidly growing stable of executive education programs, as well as alumni affairs and corporate relations. He retired from HBS in 1991.

During the last few years of his HBS career, and continuing long into his retirement, he and Jean travelled extensively, visiting businesses in Europe and the Far East, visiting their daughters and the growing families in England and The Netherlands, and enjoying trips sponsored by Harvard, Yale, and Stanford's alumni all over the world. In 1992, and again in 1994, they were asked by the International Executive Service Corps to go to Russia to advise management centers in transitioning from "socialist economics" to "market economics". Throughout his adult life, he enjoyed golf, and calculated that he played 69 different courses, 23 of them outside the USA.

Mr. Wiltsee was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord. He was also a member of the Harvard Club in Concord, the Harvard Club of New York City, Harvard and Yale clubs in Tucson, AZ, and the Holland Society of New York. He was a long time corporator of Emerson Hospital and for 13 years volunteered in "transport" at the hospital. A member of the board of the New England Deaconess Association, he resigned from the board when he and Jean became residents of Newbury Court in 2001, to avoid a conflict of interest.

Services and burial in Newton Cemetery, Newton, MA will be private.

To view the service please visit:

https://youtu.be/U4lD-KVeRl4


Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap St., Concord, MA 01742 978-369-3388 www.concordfuneral.com