George Huntington Hartford

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George Huntington Hartford (September 5, 1833 – August 29, 1917) founded The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in 1859 with George Gilman in Elmira, New York.

He was born in Augusta, Maine. His sons George and John were on the cover of Time magazine in November 1950. The magazine wrote that next to General Motors, the A&P sold more goods than any other company in the world and had close to 16,000 stores in the USA. George Huntington Hartford was the grandfather of the famous Huntington Hartford who developed Paradise Island in the Bahamas, founded the Gallery of Modern Art at 2 Columbus Circle, and was famous as one of the world's richest men in the 1960s.

Hartford died on August 29, 1917, and was interred at Rosedale Cemetery, in Orange, New Jersey. Hartford’s estate was worth $125 million dollars, but his death was not publicized in the media. This reflected on George’s ordinary and modest personality.

Bronze busts honoring Hartford and seven other industry magnates stand between the Chicago River and the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Illinois.