George A. Garrett was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, August 5, 1888. He attended grade and high school in Lake Forest, Illinois. From there, he went to Cornell University, 1906-1907, and on to the University of Chicago for the following three years. For the first two years that he was out of college Mr. Garrett worked with a Chicago bank. In 1912, he became vice president of the Dupont National Bank of Washington, D.C., a post he held for the next five years. During the First World War he was a lieutenant with the United States Army Air Force. After the war he entered the brokerage business.
When President Truman appointed Garrett as Minister to Ireland, April 6, 1947, Mr. Garrett was associated with one of the oldest brokerage and investment firms in the United States. His biggest success while Minister was the signing of the bilateral pact of June 28, 1948, between the United States and Ireland allowing Ireland to take part in the European Recovery Program. On February 25, 1950, Mr. Garrett's rank was raised to that of Ambassador. On his return to the United States, circa 1951, Mr. Garrett again became associated with the investment firm of Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and Beane and resumed his interest in the civic affairs of Washington, D.C. In 1954 President Eisenhower appointed him President of the Federal City Council, a group responsible for planning redevelopment projects in Washington.
