When the Smaller Manufacturers Council elected George Saxon as its president in 1982, it honored a businessman who through hard work and determination took a small manufacturing company and turned it into a global concern.
Today, Conco Systems Inc. of Verona, which provides services to power generators and industrial markets, employs 220 people and does business in the United States, Europe and Australia.
George E. Saxon of Oakmont, chairman of the board of Conco Systems, died on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, in his home. He was 80.
“My father was a small-business advocate,” said his son, George E. Saxon Jr., president of international markets for the company. “He was a gregarious, no-nonsense individual who provided leadership and direction for the business and for the members of his family as they prepared to follow him in the business.”
Mr. Saxon served with the Army Corps of Engineers during the 1950s. He considered the United States the greatest country in the world, where a man or woman through hard work, determination and perseverance could succeed, said his son.
“My father never forgot that my grandfather, who was a medic during World War II, was killed during the fighting on Guam in the Pacific,” said Saxon Jr. of Highland Park, Pittsburgh.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh's Greenfield neighborhood, Mr. Saxon was one of two children of George and Julia Kavchak Saxon. In 1950, after graduating from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, he received his degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
In 1956, he married Frances Bartosiewicz, a resident of Morningside whom he met at Pitt, where she received her degree in business administration. She joined her husband as corporate secretary when he acquired Conco.
Mr. Saxon was devoted to his Catholic faith, said his son. He was a member of St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Oakmont.
In addition to his son, George, Mr. Saxon is survived by his wife, Frances; children, Regina “Ginny” Godish, Ed “Gunner” Saxon and Gregory Saxon, all of Oakmont; 16 grandchildren; and a brother, Michael T. Lynches of Verona.
Visitation will be Thursday and Friday in Oakmont. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Irenaeus Catholic Church.
Jerry Vondas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7823 or jvondas@tribweb.com.The Valley News Dispatch will occasionally run obituary stories on notable local residents. They are news items and as such, no charge is applied. The subjects of these stories are solely the discretion of the editors.
