George Thomas Maloney

We are saddened to share that George Thomas Maloney (90) passed away on June 24, 2023, surrounded by his loving family. His memorial service will be held on Monday, July 17, 2023, at 10:30AM in the Rodenberg Chapel at Franke at Seaside, 1885 Rifle Range Rd, Mt. Pleasant, SC, 29464. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Mount Pleasant Chapel.

Born in Philadelphia, PA on August 28, 1932, George was the 2nd child of John “Jack” Jay Maloney and Clara Becker Maloney. After his mother’s tragic death when George was just 2 years old, his father married Christine “Chris” Jacoby. The family moved to Stuart Manor, NY where George’s two sisters were born. George always referred to Clara as his biological mother and Chris as his maternal mother since Chris raised all 4 children as her own.

In 1968, George’s old golfing buddy, Bert Sosnow, had a get together with his new wife, Peggy’s, old roommates. George crashed the party and it’s a good thing he did as that was where he met the love of his life, Sara “Sally” Maloney. They were married on April 26, 1969, in Plainfield, NJ. During the first five years of their marriage, Sally and George moved back and forth across the country five times while Sally gave birth to their first three children, Timothy, Peter and Margaret. In 1976, they settled in Basking Ridge, NJ where they would raise their children for the next 20 years. It was here that Sally gave birth to their fourth child, Catherine, who survived for 23 months until her untimely passing in 1984. Together with Sally, they created the Catherine Maloney Foundation which provided education and services for children in need for over 30 years.

George loved hearing a good joke and always had a few of his own at the ready. He was quick to laugh and loved that he had so much humor in his life. Intelligent, endlessly curious, intuitive, trustworthy, loyal, generous, good and kind, he was a strong, yet gentle, gentleman.

 As a devout Roman Catholic, George relied on his faith in the Lord from his childhood until the day he died. He could count on one hand the number of times he missed a Sunday mass in his 90 years and happily volunteered at every church of which he was a member. He served as a lectern and eucharistic minister, pitched in at post-mass pancake breakfasts, did greens keeping and was a lifelong supporter of numerous Catholic charities. George’s other lifelong passion was golf. He began playing at the age of 12 while caddying at the Garden City Country Club. He won many golf tournaments in his life from the Long Island Caddy Championship during high school to the Club Championship and Senior Club Championship at Wildcat Country Club, NC during retirement.

As a teenager, between golf and being a student of merit at Sewanhaka High School, George received a golf scholarship to Siena College in Loudonville, NY. During his time there, he was commissioned by the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) and proudly served his country in South Korea as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Field Artillery division. Prior to his deployment, he trained at Fort Sill, OK where he was named a Distinguished Military Graduate. After Korea, George returned to Siena and graduated in 1954 with a B.S. in Economics. Later in his career, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

George’s professional life began at the General Motors Corporation Assembly Plant in Linden, New Jersey where he worked as a Labor Relations Representative. In 1959, he moved to C.R. Bard, a surgical and medical device company headquartered in Murray Hill, NJ, where he would spend the rest of his career. He started as a Sales Rep in New Orleans and from there he traveled across the country working with several of the company’s divisions. As a standout salesman, he was named VP of Sales and Marketing for Bard’s USCI division in Glens Falls, NY. In 1974, he was promoted to President of Bard’s Inspiron Division. Two years later, George was called to Bard’s corporate headquarters in Murray Hill, NJ and was named Corporate Group Vice President followed quickly, in 1977, by becoming the company’s Executive Vice President and in 1978, its President and Chief Operating Officer. In 1989, George became the Chief Executive Officer and in 1991, he was also made Chairman of the Board. Upon his retirement in 1995, he had helped put Bard into the rankings of the famed Fortune 500. He was proud to have been a part of bringing so many health innovations to doctors and patients alike.

While working at Bard, George served his community as Vice Chairman of Overlook Hospital in Summit, NJ, as a Trustee of the Hemophilia Association of NJ where he received their Humanitarian Award and on 10 different boards: Atlantic Health Systems of NJ, Member Health Industry Manufacturers Association, Healthcare Leadership Council, The Matheny School and Hospital, Liberty Science Center, Summit Bancorp, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Conference Board overseeing the Consumer Confidence Index and Leading Economic Indicators, The Willits Foundation and The Delbarton School, where both of his sons attended high school. As a proud IrishAmerican, he was particularly honored when he was conferred with a Doctor of Law Degree from the National University of Ireland at Galway for helping create over 700 jobs through Bard’s Ireland division.

Golf ended up being one of the through-lines in George’s life both personally and professionally. Some of the highlights were the world-famous golf courses he was able to play with friends, colleagues and pro golfers as well as the friendship he developed with Grand Slam winner and inventor of the sand wedge, Gene Sarazen. He was a member of Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, NJ, Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ and his dream golf course, Pine Valley in Pine Valley, NJ. It was here that he achieved his number one golfing bucket-list item: shooting a hole-in-one. The icing on the cake was that he got to do it while his son, Peter, and two of his friends were playing as a foursome that day. Peter even got a photo of his swing off the tee.

In addition to his love of family, God and golf, George always credited the education he received from Siena College as the key to his success. He returned there often and served on their board for 16 years. His financial contributions helped to build the George ’54 and Sally Maloney Siena Sports Medicine Suite for Athletes, the Maloney Reading Room in the college library and The Sarazen Student Union which he named after his friend, Gene Sarazen. He also created a Scholarship for Students of Science and a Summer Legal Fellows program. In 2015, the Board of Trustees awarded George the college’s highest honor: the Siena of Bernadine Medal. It recognized him for his outstanding professional achievements and his dedication to the college. At the ceremony, former Siena College president, Father Kevin Mullen, O.F.M., Ph.D., said, “There are very few people in the world that will have the record that George Maloney has lived and the legacy that he gives to this college.”

Upon his retirement, George and Sally split their time between Stuart, FL and Highlands, NC living on the golf courses of Willoughby Golf Club and Wildcat Country Club, respectively. He would eventually serve on the boards of both clubs, becoming the Board President at Wildcat. He finished his post-retirement work serving on the Board of the Highlands and Cashiers Hospital in Highlands, NC. George and Sally moved to Mt. Pleasant, SC in 2015. Shortly thereafter, George suffered a major stroke. Sally dedicated herself to caring for him for the next 8 years along with their son, Peter, and his wife, Rebecca, who live close by. Between them, they helped George through both good and more difficult times.

George’s family is deeply proud to call him husband, Dad and Grandad. These were the titles he was most proud of in his life. He is survived and will be deeply missed by his wife, Sally, his son, Timothy George Maloney and his wife, Solvej Biddle Maloney, their children, Andrea-Anna Magdalena Maloney and James Henry William Maloney of Tidmarsh, England, his son, Peter John Maloney and his wife, Rebecca Jane Wineland, MD, of Mt. Pleasant, SC, his daughter, Margaret Carroll Maloney of Raleigh, NC, and his sisters, Carole Maloney Hamlin and Kathleen Maloney Sullivan. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Catherine Mary, his brother, Jack Maloney, his father, Jack Maloney, his stepmother, Christine Jacoby Maloney, and his mother, Clara Becker Maloney.

 In lieu of flowers, donations in memoriam may be made to the Special Olympics (www.specialolympics.org) or The Barrier Island Free Medical Clinic (www.bifmc.org).