George H. Billings ’72

George H. Billings ’72, of Falmouth, Mass.; Aug. 20, of cancer. After Brown he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and began working in the cellular communications and satellite television industries. He moved to Washington, D.C., and joined a management analysis firm specializing in strategic planning and finance and marketing. A position as senior advisor of corporate development for COMSAT followed. In 1980, he was named vice president for business development of COMSAT’s subsidiary, Satellite Television Corp., and later was founder and president of Billings & Co., a management consulting firm serving both Fortune 500 and development stage companies. He was a pioneering executive in the satellite TV industry in the U.S. and Latin America. He served on the boards of directors of several private and public companies and was a former director of Avid Technology, Cambridge Strategic Management Group, Cignal Global Communications, Symmetry Communications Systems, and Melior Innovations. He was a supporter of the schools he attended and served on the annual giving board of Phillips Academy at Andover. At Brown, he was a trustee, president of his class, was elected secretary and president of the Brown Alumni Association, cochairman of the Brown entrepreneurship initiative, and was a member of the Brown Annual Fund Executive Committee. In 2002 he was the recipient of the Brown Alumni Association’s Service Award, and in 2008 he received the Brown Bear Award. On the day of his death, President Paxson conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and presented him a doctoral hood. He was a lifelong member of the Quissett Yacht Club and active board member of Quissett Harbor House Land Trust. He participated on the board of overseers of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and supported local environmental organizations. He is survived by a sister, two brothers, four sisters-in-law, a brother-in-law, and several nieces and nephews.