Publication Date: Wednesday Oct 22, 1997
George A. Willey
George A. Willey, 74, a 32-year resident of Palo Alto, died Oct. 12 at Stanford. For 40 years, he played Squire Bracebridge at an immensely popular annual Christmas-time feast at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, set in the time of King George III. A native of Los Angeles, he was stationed in the Pacific during World War II. He later graduated from Occidental College and received advanced degrees from both Northwestern University and Stanford University. He taught communication at Stanford as well as at Foothill College, and he was the first dean of instruction at De Anza College in Cupertino. According to his son Robert Willey, his favorite job was his last, when he served as director of the Bay Area Community College Television Consortium, a group of 20 schools providing college-level instruction in a broadcast medium. He also served for two years as national chairman of the Instructional Telecommunications Consortium, a group involved in putting together regional and national workshops. While on leave of absence from Stanford in the 1950s, he was educational director at KPIX-TV, where he produced more than 200 public affairs programs in cooperation with educational and cultural institutions throughout Northern California. For three years, he was producer and program host for "Problems Please," a weekly interfaith discussion series on KRON-TV. Throughout the 1960s, he wrote "A Closer Look," a syndicated daily column of radio and television criticism published in the Palo Alto Times and papers in Redwood City, Berkeley and Hayward. He served as production director for the West Bay Opera Association, and his English translation of "Der Fledermaus," has been sung by a number of groups. During his retirement, he wrote several plays, including "Love and Music" (a musical with Bob Olson) and "Rehearsal," a comedy chronicling 25 years of western theater. He is survived by his wife, Jill Willey of Palo Alto; three sons, Lucas Willey of Seattle, Robert Willey of Recife, Brazil and Art Willey of Eugene, Ore.; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Jewish Community Center, 655 Arastradero Rd., Palo Alto.