George Martin Hart Sr.
Marriages
Rosa Cosciano - 1950
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - December 31, 2011
George Hart died Dec. 22, 2011. He was 85.
George’s childhood was spent in Fairview, N.J., with his parents Percival and Dorothy Hart. George developed a sense of humor that allowed him to appreciate the lighter side of life. He was a unique communicator — short, usually sweet and to the point. He didn’t waste words. “Live and let live” was one of his many sayings.
George was the boy in the zoot suit, voted “wittiest boy” in high school. Among his many creative talents, George was a cartoon writer, a musician, and a collector of “B” movies. After high school, George entered the military during World War II. He was a wire chief in the Signal Corps in Germany.
George married Rose Casciano in 1950 and started a family after relocating to Wildwood, N.J. That is where he began his 10-year career in radio as a news broadcaster and DJ.
After radio, he began a new career in the greeting card industry. If you have ever bought a greeting card, chances are that George Hart may have been the author of it. He had the title of “Humorous Writer in the Highbrow Department of Studio Cards.” George’s talents have been retained by the great greeting card companies such as American Greetings, Norcross, Roth and finally Hallmark, from which he retired from in the late ’90s. He also was the “idea guy” for many cartoons in the New Yorker and Saturday Evening Post. He wrote for Mad Magazine as well as being the chief editor for Laugh-In magazine.
George’s talent was his foresight to see the humor in almost any situation and his ability to communicate the irony of life’s ups and downs, hoping that the average reader perhaps could be as amused as he was.
A story about George would not be complete without mention of his musical and cinematic endeavors. In southern New Jersey, he played in a band called the “Velveteers” for weddings and night-club engagements. Jazz was the ultimate to George. A self-taught musician on drums, saxophone, clarinet and flute, he was influenced by the great masters like Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Buddy Rich and many more. His love of movies (especially the cheesy horror genre that are classics today for all “B” movie fans) led him to co-write a movie called “Blood Song” starring Frankie Avalon. He also had a subtle romantic side to his movie favorites — “Titanic,” “Somewhere in Time,” “Defending Your Life” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to mention a few.
George moved to Steamboat Springs in 1999 to be closer to his daughters, Barbara Hart Campbell and Belinda Hart. His son, George Jr., lives in California.
George is survived by his son, George; daughters Barbara and Belinda; and his seven grandchildren, Billy, Laura and Lisa Hart, Eli Campbell, Aaron and Jordan Shackelford and Gabriel Hart.
We love our dad, and we will miss his humor and wisdom. A family gathering to celebrate George’s life is being planned on his birthday in July 2012.
