SAN FRANCISCO - George Frederick (Fritz) Jewett Jr., a former Potlatch Corp. executive, philanthropist and America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee, died Friday in San Francisco, of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 81.
Jewett had a long career in the forest products industry as director of Potlatch Corp., retiring as vice chairman of the board in 1999. He was also known for chairing five America's Cup syndicates for three yacht clubs from 1973 through 2000.
A graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., Jewett received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and his masters in business administration from Harvard Business School. He entered the lumber business in the Northwest, meeting and marrying his wife, Lucille McIntyre, while working at a Tacoma sawmill.
Jewett came to Lewiston in 1954 to work in production management at what was then Potlatch Forests Inc., and was named vice president for administration in 1962. After 10 years in Lewiston, he transferred to Potlatch's corporate offices in San Francisco.
In 1979, Jewett scaled back his involvement with Potlatch to devote more time to his duties as director or trustee of numerous civic, national and international organizations and activities. He served on the board of San Francisco's California Pacific Medical Center for 41 years, and helped establish the city's Asian Art Museum.
While in Lewiston, Jewett was director of the North Idaho Children's Home, now Northwest Children's Home, was on the board of the Lewis-Clark Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and served on the lay advisory board of St. Joseph's Hospital. He and his wife, Lucy, were supportive of the YWCA in Lewiston. After they moved to San Francisco, the Jewetts donated land to the city for Jewett Park in the Reno Addition, and their Lewiston home was donated by Potlatch to the children's home.
Although he grew up in landlocked Spokane, summers spent at his family's Cape Cod home helped Jewett develop a lifelong interest in sailing that led him to the America's Cup in the 1970s. His yacht, Freedom, won the cup in 1980, and after a disappointing loss in 1983, the team he led brought home the trophy again in 1987. Jewett was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2005.
Jewett served on the boards of directors of San Francisco's Academy of Sciences, Oakland's Mills College, The Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and was on the trustee's council of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Pacific Union Club, the Bohemian Club and the Burlingame Club, as well as the St. Francis, New York, Marin and Ida Lewis yacht clubs.
Surviving Jewett are his wife of nearly 55 years, Lucy; his son, George F. Jewett III and his wife Brenda of Hillsborough, Calif.; his daughter, Betsy Jewett and her husband Rick Gill of Spokane; four grandchildren; and a sister, Margaret Greer of Chevy Chase, Md.
