The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING GEORGE HARVEY SR.
______
HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Mr. GRIFFITH. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor George Harvey Sr. of Radford, Virginia, who passed away on February 24, 2021 at the age of 92. Mr. Harvey's life was a true American success story, in which he rose from hard beginnings to great accomplishments in business and then drew upon them to give back to his community.
Mr. Harvey was born on May 31, 1928 in Mann, West Virginia. His family moved to a farm in Montgomery County, Virginia in 1932. As a child, he walked two miles to attend school. When attending Auburn High School, he had to walk two miles to catch the bus, and if his responsibilities of milking the farm's cows delayed him from catching the bus, he had to walk five miles more to school.
After graduating from Auburn in 1945, Mr. Harvey joined the United States Air Corps and was deployed to Fairbanks, Alaska. He passed on the chance to attend West Point and opted instead to return home to Southwest Virginia. He enrolled in National Business College in Roanoke, majoring in Business and Accounting.
Mr. Harvey began his career by operating a gas station, followed by a Texaco Oil Distributing Business and a used car dealership. In 1957, he became a General Motors Chevrolet dealer in Christiansburg. The next year, he bought an Oldsmobile dealership, and in 1959, he purchased a Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac franchise in Radford. His business grew through the decades, earning him millions and providing jobs to many in the region. In 1989, it added a Pontiac-Buick dealership as well. He took the obligations that came with wealth and job creation seriously. According to the Roanoke Times, he said in 2009 that the number he was proudest of was zero, which was the number of employees he had laid off over the then-50-year history of Harvey's Chevrolet Cadillac Buick.
Many local organizations and causes benefited from Mr. Harvey's support. At Radford University, he was the second president of the foundation and the chairman of the Business and Economics Department, driving the creation of a certified School of Business. He was chairman of the board at Radford Community Hospital, now Carilion New River Valley Medical Center.
Other roles he held in the community included president of the Chamber of Commerce; Vice President of First & Merchants National Bank in Radford; past president of the New River Dealers Association, Kiwanis Club and Retail Merchants Association; past chairman of United Fund and the Michelle ``Petie'' Lineberry Heart Recipient Fund Drive; past vice president of the Southwest Virginia Health Services; board member of the Virginia automobile Dealers Association, the Commonwealth Dealers Life Insurance Association, and Saint Albans Psychiatric Hospital; and Elder and member of The Presbyterian Church of Radford.
Mr. Harvey's survivors include his wife of 61 years, Juanita Kirk Harvey, five children, and grandchildren. I would like to offer my condolences to them on the loss of this great businessman and community leader.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 49
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