George Skakel

George Skakel ( ; July 16, 1892 – October 3, 1955) was an American businessman. He founded the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation (later to be part of SGL Carbon). His daughter Ethel Kennedy was the widow of Robert F. Kennedy and mother of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Early life Skakel was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 16, 1892. He was a son of businessman James Curtis Skakel and Grace Mary Jordan, who were Protestants, of part-Dutch ancestry. He had an elder brother William Skakel, a younger sister Margaret Skakel, and a younger brother James Curtis Skakel Jr. The company would purchase the coke from coal companies and reprocess it into clean carbon which was used to produce aluminum. By 1929, Skakel had become a multi-millionaire.

The business eventually grew into The Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, which became one of the largest privately held corporations in the United States. After Skakel's death in a plane crash in 1955, his sons George Jr. (who also died in a plane crash, in 1966) and James III took over the business.

Personal life Skakel married his former secretary, Ann Brannack (1892-1955), on November 25, 1917. They are buried at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Greenwich, Connecticut.