Service to several California communities marked George Savage’s newspaper career, which ranged from the 1920s to the 1950s. Claremont, South Pasadena, the Owens Valley and San Bernardino all benefited from this newsman’s dedication and influence.

Savage was born in Denison, Iowa, attended high school in Pomona and graduated from Pomona College in Claremont. Immediately after his graduation, in 1925, he became a member of the Pomona College staff as assistant to the president.

In 1928, he was managing editor of the Claremont Courier and in 1933 he became publisher of the Lone Pine Progress-Citizen and Inyo Independent. In 1942, Savage and co-publisher Roy L. French acquired the Inyo Register from Bill Chalfant, the 1991 California Newspaper Hall of Fame inductee. Savage and French, in honor of Chalfant, took the name of Chalfant Press for their three papers.

In 1946, Savage became editor and publisher of the South Pasadena Review, and he left there to become secretary to the California Highway Commission. Savage later joined The Sun Co. organization as assistant to the newspaper publishers in San Bernardino.

He served in the Navy during World War II, retiring with the rank of lieutenant commander. Savage was active in the Boy Scout movement and served on the council’s executive committee.

He was also the manager of Inland Printing and Engraving Co., San Bernardino; president, San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce; and member, Governor’s Public Information Committee.

Savage was very active in the Death Valley ’49ers and was instrumental in fundraising for the creation of the Death Valley Museum and Visitors Center, a million-dollar project finished in November 1960.

“Few persons were so active, and since life is not a solitary matter but one of interaction between people, the passing of George Savage will be felt amongst many,” Dr. George W. Haskell said in eulogy. “He was a creative man. He reminds me of a description I recently read of King Albert of Belgium: ‘Every time he said something you felt he was building.’ In this sense George Savage was a builder of better communities and better lives.”