George Franklin Getty was an American businessman and oil company executive.
Background
Getty was born on July 9, 1924 in Los Angeles, the firstborn son of J. Paul Getty, the oil billionaire once reputed to be the wealthiest man in the world, and Jeanette Demont. George Getty was regarded as the heir apparent to head the vast holdings of Getty Oil and associated corporations. Getty's parents separated when he was only two months old and divorced several months later. Getty was raised by his mother and stepfather, a stockbroker from Los Angeles named Bill Jones, and he had relatively little contact with his natural father until he reached adulthood.
Education
After briefly attending Princeton University in 1941, Getty enlisted in the Army Reserve Corps in 1942 and was called up for active duty in February 1943.
Career
Getty was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry in 1944. He was later assigned as a war crimes investigator to the legal section of the Supreme Command for the Allied Powers and spent sixteen months in the Philippines, Malaya, and Japan. Following his discharge in 1947, Getty returned to Princeton for a brief period but left when his father agreed to let him into the family business. But relations between father and son were not always smooth, and the two occasionally clashed on business issues. The Getty family holdings were controlled through the Sarah Getty Trust with J. Paul Getty as sole trustee. In 1941, he resigned to have his interests represented by an attorney, Thomas Dockweiler, as trustee. In 1946, twenty-two-year-old George Getty, seeking a more active role in the family business, was named as a second trustee. In January 1948, in direct opposition to his father, George Getty went into court in an attempt to change some of the conditions controlling the trust. The senior Getty countered with his own legal action and convinced the court to reappoint him as sole trustee. His son accepted the defeat and the conflict apparently did not have any lasting effect on the father-son relationship. Not long after this, the senior Getty began to view George as the one who would naturally succeed him at the head of the Getty Family business. Soon thereafter the Getty interests, represented by the Pacific Western Oil Corporation, acquired drilling rights in the so-called neutral zone shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The senior Getty sent his son to the area as manager for the Pacific Western interest and as his personal representative. Transferred back to the United States in 1950, Getty became manager of the midcontinent division of Pacific Western. He subsequently held increasingly more responsible positions with Spartan Aircraft Corporation, the Skelly Oil Company, and Tidewater Oil, all firms associated with Getty Oil. He also served as an officer with Minnehoma Financial Company and the Minnehoma Insurance Company, both founded by his grandfather, George Franklin Getty. In 1955, Getty was named executive vice-president and director at Pacific Western Oil. He left the following year to join Tidewater Oil, and in 1960, at the age of thirty-six, he was named to the presidency of Tidewater. However, George Getty was still held under a tight rein by his father. At no time did the senior Getty relinquish his control of the companies and subsidiaries that made up the Getty family holdings. In the mid-1960's, he moved to merge the larger and more integrated Tidewater Oil into the parent company, Getty Oil. The proposed merger was controversial and was difficult to accomplish. George Getty played a significant role in the merger and expected to assume the presidency of the merged firms. He was disappointed. His father assumed the presidency, and George Getty was made executive vice-president and chief operating officer. The late 1960's and early 1970's were difficult times for George Getty. Getty Oil experienced a number of reverses and his management abilities came under fire, particularly from his father. Relations between the two men worsened. By early 1973, this marriage was in serious trouble, and his relationship with his daughters and his father had deteriorated further. In the final months before his death in June 1973, Getty relied heavily on barbiturates and alcohol, and there was evidence that he engaged in other forms of self-destructive behavior. Getty died in Los Angeles of a lethal dose of barbiturates and alcohol on June 6, 1973, at the age of forty-eight. After a lengthy investigation the coroner of Los Angeles County ruled the death a probable suicide.
Achievements
Getty is best remembered as vice-president of his father's Getty Oil Company.
Connections
Getty married Gloria Gordon of Denver in 1951; they had three children. His wife divorced him in 1967. In May 1971, Getty married Jacqueline Riordan, a beautiful young widow with a fortune of approximately $30 million. They had no children.
Father:
Jean Paul Getty
He was an American-born British industrialist.
Mother:
Jeanette Demont
Spouse:
Jacqueline Riordan
Spouse:
Gloria Gordon
Brother:
Gordon Peter Getty
He is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist and classical music composer.
Brother:
Sir John Paul Getty
He was an American-born British philanthropist and book collector.
