Lasting Memories

George Sterrett Weaton
Jan. 9, 1933-April 3, 2023
Portola Valley, California

George Sterrett Wheaton III, January 9, 1933 – April 3, 2023.

George died at his home in Portola Valley surrounded by his family after a long battle with cancer.

George was fourth generation Californian, born in San Francisco and raised in San Francisco and Pasadena. He attended the Thacher School in Ojai where he became an excellent horseman. While in college at Stanford, he met his wife of 66 years, Sarah Coffin. Although both attended Stanford, George and Sarah met in Spain while traveling in Europe in the summer of 1954. George received his engineering degree from Stanford while serving in ROTC and after graduation was posted to the 23rd Armored Engineer Battalion in Germany. After his discharge from the army, George and Sarah returned briefly to Southern California before George was accepted to Harvard Business School, receiving his MBA in 1962.

George’s career included senior positions at Cyprus Mines Corporation, NCR, Pacific Scientific and Bechtel Corporation. He concluded his professional career after serving as Associate Chairman of the Stanford Computer Science Department.

George and Sarah were adventurous travelers, and visited all seven continents. They regularly joined hiking tours that took them through Bhutan, the Pyrenees, Italy and Antarctica. In later years, they were routinely the most senior members of their hiking groups by a wide margin. George was also an avid fly fisher; he and Sarah fished rivers in New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Canada and throughout the mid-West and West coasts of the United States.

When a boy, George’s parents built a cabin in the El Dorado National Forest just off of Highway 50 on American River. George and his younger brother, John (who predeceased George last year) spent many long summers at the cabin where George developed his flyfishing skills. George’s children and grandchildren also enjoyed the cabin where siblings and cousins could gather together until it was destroyed by the Caldor fire in 2021.

George was a long-time active member of the Palo Alto Rotary Club and served as club President devoting considerable time on international development projects. He was an officer in the Palo Alto Club and a fourth generation member of the Bohemian Club.

George is survived by his wife, Sarah Coffin Wheaton; his children Kathleen Wheaton, Julie Wheaton Goldberg and William Palmer Wheaton, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.