George William Liddicoat
April 13, 1925-Sept. 15, 2015
Palo Alto, California

George Liddicoat, a longtime Palo Alto resident and businessman/owner of Liddicoat's, died peacefully at home on Sept. 15 at the age of 90.

George William was the eldest son of George Liddicoat of Cornwall, England, and Mary Lennon of San Mateo. He grew up in Palo Alto with siblings Jack, Mary Ellen, Kathleen, Nancy and Tom, graduating from Palo Alto High School before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 18. He was able to attend college at USC and enter the work forces in sales while moving to New York upon graduation. It was during his high school and then college years that he met and later married Mary Jo Lucas, beginning a romance that lasted 67 years and took them to all parts of the globe.

His decision to attend graduate school at the American Institute of Foreign Trade allowed him to begin his overseas careers with Standard Oil of California, as he moved with his ever-growing family from Panama to Puerto Rico, Peru and finally back to the East Coast before exiting from the oil business in 1972. The memories and friendships during those years were strong and binding as they collected lifetime friends with whom they shared adventures constantly, even during retirement years.

His move back to Palo Alto in the 1970s to take over the management of the family grocery store, Liddicoat's, brought George and Mary Jo full circle and back into the lives of many family members and old friends that they had always kept up with, thanks to Mary Jo's ongoing correspondences.

Besides family and friends, George was a great seeker and doer of adventures, opportunities and good old fun. From the pranks he described during his boyhood to watching him sail off on the various family commercial fishing vessels to "help out," nothing could keep him away from anything that spoke of thrills and curiosity of the unknown.

He was preceded in death by his son, George Mathew Liddicoat, as well as his siblings, Jack Liddicoat and Mary Ellen Smith.

George is survived by his wife, Mary Jo Liddicoat, as well as his children, Amy Keohane, John Liddicoat and Jody Liddicoat, and his grandchildren, Julian and Andrew Manos, Bryan and Sean Keohane, and Merrill and Ella Liddicoat.

Tags: veteran, business