George H. Heywood Jr. ’43 died on April 18, 2008, at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts.

He was born in Boston on October 11, 1920, and except for his time in school and in the military, lived in Gardner, Mass., all of his life. He was raised on the former Heywood Farm where Mount Wachusett Community College is now located. He prepared for college at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., where he was a member of the wrestling team. During his senior year at Bowdoin, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, he was recruited by the Army to join the 10th Mountain Division. His active duty began after graduation, and he was honorably discharged in 1944 due to a service-related injury, after receiving the Victory Medal, American Theater Ribbon and the Good Conduct Ribbon. Upon returning home to Massachusetts, he became a fabric buyer at Heywood- Wakefield Company, a family business founded in 1826. He quickly moved to senior positions in the company and was elected president in 1966. He served as president and chief executive officer until the company closed its doors in 1981. His passion was Gardner history, and he dedicated much of his free time to the Levi Heywood Library and Historical Society. He served for many years on the board of directors for First Safety Fund National Bank of Fitchburg (now TD Bank Financial). He was a longtime member and former trustee of the First Congregational Church of Gardner, and an active member of the Monomonac Sporting Club in Rindge, N.H. He is survived by a brother, John Heywood; a sister, Marjorie Heywood; sons Geoffrey G. Dellenbaugh and George H. Heywood III; daughters Pamela P. Wicker, Anne P. Gorney, Martha Heywood, Catherine W. Pinkham, Janet Heywood, and Polly P. Herring; 16 grandchildren; and three great- grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife Mary A. (Greenwood) Heywood in 1961, after just 10 years of marriage, and by his second wife Nancy F. (Dutton) Heywood in 2004.