DOVER - George J. Ollweiler died on Tuesday, Mar. 21, 2017, at Kent General Hospital, following a brief illness. He was preceded in death by his wife, Frances Ollweiler, who passed in 2008.
Mr. Ollweiler was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and met his future wife while both were working for E.J. Squibb in New York. They moved to Dover in 1952, when he accepted a job at Playtex. Over the years, Playtex transfers took the couple to Chicago, Ill., Los Angeles, Calif., New York City, N.Y., and London, England, with returns to Dover each time in-between. Mr. Ollweiler eventually became Director of Operations for Playtex and retired from the company in 1988.
At that point, he and Fran started exploring the world through extended ocean cruises, visiting such diverse places as the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Amazon.
George loved postage stamps and would await the official release of each new commemorative throughout the year. At the end of the year, he'd purchase the entire official yearbook set of stamps from the U.S. Postal Service.
He also liked old movies and was always very good at knowing who many of the minor characters were in old black-and-white films. He especially was a fan of westerns, and in particular Roy Rogers, who he actually met twice in his lifetime, once at Madison Square Garden in the 40s and again in the 90s during a Christmas visit to the Roy Rogers Museum in California.
George always wanted to be informed about what was going on in the world, so every morning he would go out to get his New York Times and Delaware State News, and then would spend time during the day reading both in their entirety.
An avid reader all of his life, Mr. Ollweiler was a frequent patron of the Dover Public Library, where he would get the latest books that piqued his interest. For that reason, it is requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his name to the Dover Library Foundation, P.O. Box 112, Dover, DE 19903.
Mr. Ollweiler is survived by his two adult children, Ken and Sue, both of Los Angeles, Calif. Cremation services were performed by the Torbert Funeral Home, Dover.
A lifelong New York Yankees fan, a memorial for Mr. Ollweiler, along with a celebration of his life, will be held at Yankee Stadium in late May.
Letters of condolences may be sent and guest book signed at www.torbertfuneral.com