1929-2021: George Dorion was Jacksonville philanthropist and Bacardi family member and chemist firstcoastnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from firstcoastnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bermuda-based Bacardi Limited announced that George H. Dorion, 91, a longtime company leader and great-grandson of founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, died April 14 in his Jacksonville home.
“For more than 25 years he dedicated himself to evolving the business by helping us lead the way in environmental responsibility and supporting development of new products that appealed to the trends of the moment,” said Facundo Bacardi, chairman of family-owned Bacardi Limited.
Bacardi Bottling Corp. is based in Jacksonville, where it bottles Bacardi rum-branded products and employs more than 200 people.
Dorion, a chemist, joined the family business in 1969 in Puerto Rico to work at the rum distillery that the company says is the largest premium rum distillery in the world.
George H. Dorion, a chemist by trade at the Bacardi spirits company founded by his great-grandfather and a philanthropist who supported a myriad of causes and helped found the River Run, died Wednesday at his Jacksonville home two days before his 92nd birthday.
He had prostate cancer that had metastasized, according to his wife of 63 years, Dorothy Dottie Dorion, a former hospice nurse. Despite his illness, he had been up and around until a week or so before his death. He was holding onto my arm, looked me in the eye, gave me a little smile and he was gone, she said. We had wonderful times. … I couldn t have picked a better mate.