Fourth-generation member of Glatfelter paper family dies
Glatfelter makes a multitude of paper products including metallic labels for beer bottles and colored pencils, books and playing cards. Harry Potter books were printed on Glatfelter paper, as were Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation,” Tom Clancy’s “The Bear and the Dragon,” Frank McCourt’s “Tis.” Background posts: Glatfelter, Morgan Smith head industrial legacy list and Glatfelter, Farquhar, Shipley: Insights from local greats.
Four sons of Spring Grove paper mill owner P.H. Glatfelter II went off to fight in World War II.
William L., a York Corporation employee, did not come back, a plane crash victim. Along with York rabbi Alexander D. Goode, of Four Chaplains fame, W.L. was the most prominent York countian to die in the war.
Three sons came back, P.H. III, Ted and George… .
P.H. III eventually succeeded his father as head of the business.
George H., later manufacturing vice-president, died this week at the age of 80, his three brothers preceding him in death.
And George Glatfelter left a grand legacy. His son, fifth-generation family member George H. Glatfelter II, heads Glatfelter today.
(See Glatfelter family history is as clear as … paper for further details on this prominet family’s lineage.)
A York Daily Record story (11/29/07) gives more details about George H. Glatfelter’s life:
The former head of Glatfelter’s manufacturing operation who led the modernization of the Spring Grove facility and brought electricity co-generation to the company in the 1980s died this week in New Jersey.
George H. Glatfelter, 80, was the father of current company president and chief executive officer George H. Glatfelter II.
The elder Glatfelter served nearly 20 years as vice president for manufacturing and was a member of the board of directors.
He retired in 1987.
Glatfelter died Tuesday. A funeral is scheduled for Sunday in Spring Grove.
Tom Norris, past president, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, worked alongside Glatfelter for many years.
Norris described him as a man who had the respect of the people he led. And he knew his way around the technical side of the business.
“He was very knowledgeable in the process of making paper,” Norris said.
Glatfelter spent his entire career in that manufacturing area of the company, starting in April 1947 as a lab sampler in the technical department. He would eventually work in each of the manufacturing operations.
