George Stevens, a retired businessman whose interests included an auto dealership and real estate development, died July 1 of pneumonia at his Gloucester, Mass., home. He was 91.
He was born in Boston and raised in Lowell, Mass., and North Andover, Mass.
He was a direct descendant of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, who was in charge of the Union occupation of Baltimore during the Civil War and later served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor of Massachusetts.
After graduating in 1942 from the Middlesex School in Concord, Mass., Mr. Stevens enrolled at Harvard University. His college studies were interrupted when he enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943, training as a pilot.
He returned to Harvard in 1945 and earned a bachelor's degree in 1948.
Mr. Stevens began working for the Ames Textile Corp., a family business, but left in the early 1950s to establish Stevens Motor Sales, a Ford dealership, in Gloucester. He later sold the business and partnered with two other Ford dealers to form the New Bradford Co., a real estate development firm, which built dealership buildings.
In addition to his home in Gloucester, Mr. Stevens lived part of the year in homes in the Woodbrook neighborhood of Baltimore County and Vero Beach, Fla.
He was a member of the Annisquam Village Church in Annisquam, Mass., and the Elkridge Club. He was a lifelong car, golfing and tennis enthusiast.
His wife of 57 years, the former Sally P. Potter, died in 2005.
Services are private.
Mr. Stevens is survived by his second wife, the former Elizabeth "Betsy" McPherson Morgan; a son, George Stevens Jr. of Andover, Mass.; three daughters, Tee Wall of Gloucester, Elizabeth Stevens of York, Maine, and Amy Stevens of Charles City, Va.; a sister, Priscilla Rutherford of New Canaan, Conn.; 16 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Another son, Bradford P. Stevens, died in 2013.