George Crawford

George Washington Crawford (June 4, 1861 – April 6, 1935) was a prominent American businessman of the late 19th and early 20th century who was a founder and executive with Columbia Gas & Electric. Crawford was the father of New York socialite Sunny von Bülow, who spent 28 years in a coma after what some thought was an attempted murder.

Early life Crawford was born on June 4, 1861. He was the son of Elizabeth Wilson (1833–1906) and Ebenezer "Eben" Crawford (1821–1897), a farmer from Emlenton, Venango County, Pennsylvania. He was educated in public schools and at the Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Career According to local Emlenton history records, Eben and his brothers traveled west during the California gold rush but "returned home penniless." the first natural gas corporation which first operated in Corning, Ohio. Crawford made a fortune after reserves of oil and natural gas were discovered on Eben's farm in 1901. He later formed the Ohio Fuel Supply Company, which merged with the much larger Columbia Gas & Electric in 1926, and became one of the leading American utilities companies of the 20th century.

By 1931, he was the chairman of the board of Columbia Gas & Electric, owner of Lone Star Gas Co. in Texas, helped develop Western Public Service Corporation, and was a major investor in significant oil and gas reserves in Mexico. He also served as a trustee of the Union Trust Company of Pittsburgh. In 1932, when Crawford was 71, his only child was born, reportedly in Crawford's personal railroad carriage. The family had two homes, one in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh and a second home (previously his father's residence) at 304 Hill Street, Emlenton, PA. Their daughter was:

Martha Sharp "Sunny" Crawford (1932–2008), They divorced in 1988, following her injury in 1980, and she died in 2008 after having been in a coma for nearly 28 years. Upon his death, he left his estate to his widow and his three-year-old daughter, valued at more than US$100 million (UK£75 million). His widow, who remarried in 1957 to Russell Barnett Aitken (1910–2002), who owned Champ Soleil in Newport, Rhode Island, and their daughter moved to New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut. After his widow's death in 1984, her widower, Aitken remarried Irene (née Boyd) McAlpin Roosevelt, the widow of John Aspinwall Roosevelt, youngest son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Through his only daughter, Sunny, he was the grandfather of Cosima von Bülow (b. 1967).