George Dunton Widener was born on March 11, 1889 into one of Philadelphia's oldest and wealthiest families, the son of the elder George D. Widener and Eleanor W. Elkins, both philanthropists. He had two siblings. His father and his older brother, Harry Elkins Widener, were lost in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
He was educated privately and at the Delancey School in Philadelphia.
Widener established a lifelong association with thoroughbred racing when his silks, light blue and dark blue hoops with dark blue cap, were registered in 1913. Three years later he was elected to The Jockey Club and bought Erdenheim Farm, in suburban Whitemarsh Township, where he began thoroughbred breeding in earnest. Columbine became his first homebred stakes winner that same year by winning the Walden at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore. Following America's declaration of war against Germany in April 1917, Widener was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Army's Quartermaster Corps and served stateside for the duration of the conflict. To expand breeding operations, Widener acquired Old Kenney Farm near Lexington, Ky. , in 1923. Great successes followed, beginning with St. James's victory in that year's Futurity at Belmont Park in New York City. During his long pursuit of excellence in the sport, Widener bred 100 stakes winners, including Jamestown, High Fleet, Platter, Stefanita, Jaipur, and What A Treat. His horses won 1, 243 races, including multiple victories in the Flash, Travers, Futurity, Sanford, Hopeful, and Saratoga Special, with career earnings from all Widener mounts totaling well in excess of nine million dollars. Yet breeding thoroughbreds was only one of his concerns. Widener dedicated his life to the advancement of all aspects of thoroughbred racing. Along with his uncle Joseph E. Widener - a leader in the field - and his cousin, Peter A. B. Widener III, Widener helped define the sport as a business in 1928. The Bureau of Internal Revenue had sought over $900, 000 in what it declared to be back taxes. However, a federal court found that financial losses incurred in thoroughbred racing and breeding were legitimate business deductions and not subject to taxation. The ruling thereafter broadened investment opportunities in the sport. As a consequence of such activities, Widener's leadership abilities were soon recognized, leading him to positions of increasing responsibility within racing circles. From 1942 to 1955 he was president of the Westchester Racing Association, which operated Belmont Park. During Widener's tenure, the Widener Turf Course - named in honor of his uncle - was established at the track. In 1955 he was elected honorary chairman of the Greater New York Racing Association. He also served the Jockey Club in similar capacities: as steward in 1943, vice-chairman from 1947 to 1950, and chairman from 1950 to 1964. Widener thereafter served the organization as honorary chairman. Under his leadership, the Jockey Club refined the methods of registering racing silks, established a school to improve the quality of racing officials, classified thoroughbred blood types to reduce the dangers implicit in transfusions, and improved horse identification practices. It also began Round Table Conferences that enabled representatives from all segments of the thoroughbred racing and breeding community to discuss mutual problems. Widener, however, being conservative by nature, actively resisted efforts throughout his lifetime that he believed would overcommercialize the sport. He was opposed to night racing and off-track betting, and he considered the use of the drug Butazolidin "a disservice to racing. " Widener even denied himself an opportunity to win the Triple Crown of racing by never entering horses in the Kentucky Derby, believing the mile-and-one-quarter distance too arduous for young three-year-olds. In 1962 Widener experienced his greatest racing victory when homebred colt Jaipur, with legendary jockey Willie Shoemaker aboard, won the Belmont by a nose. Widener's nine previous entries, dating back to 1918, had resulted in three second-place finishes in the longest race of the Triple Crown. Yet Widener's passion for racing went well beyond the Winner's Circle. He was a leading spokesman for the establishment of The Jockey Club Foundation to provide relief for indigent racing people. Hence, it was not surprising that the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association honored him in 1954 with its first "Man of the Year" award. Widener's contributions to racing were also recognized by the Jockey Agents Benevolent Association, the Thoroughbred Club of America, and the Turf and Field Club, among others. His presentation as the first Exemplar of Racing by the National Museum of Racing in 1971 in recognition of "a role so influential in [the] sport" was a fitting pinnacle to his lifelong avocation. Possibly most revealing of his close relationship with the people of the sport was Widener's association with his trainers. Only three men - Jack Joyner, Bert Mulholland, and Syl Veitch - held that position over the course of a half-century of Widener racing. He died at Erdenheim Farm, his longtime home outside Philadelphia, a true "aristocrat of the American turf. "
He was one of only five people ever designated "Exemplars of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Although racing was his main avocation, Widener expended great energy and money supporting the humanities. He endowed the Widener Library at Harvard University, and presented a Gutenberg Bible to the school in 1944. He contributed valuable pieces of art and more than forty years of leadership to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ultimately serving as chairman of the board from 1947 to 1964, and was a director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. Widener also served as a trustee of Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, Chestnut Hill Hospital, and Zoological Gardens. Other organizations that enjoyed his philanthropy included the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center. An Episcopalian, Widener supported the Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia and the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachussets. Born into a life of gentility, George D. Widener openly shared his talents and wealth with the broader community.
On March 20, 1917, Widener married Jessie Sloane in New York City. They had no children and remained married until Jessie's death more than fifty years later.
