George W. Connell, Jr., 57George W. “Mallet” Connell, Jr. of Chestnut Hill, son of George W. Connell, and the late Binney W. Nast, died November 11, 2018. Several family members and friends were by his side.George was a graduate of The William Penn Charter School and received his BA from Denison University where he was a standout player on both the Varsity Soccer and Baseball teams.George also served his country for 6 years as a member of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry of The Pennsylvania Army National Guard.In addition to his father, George is survived by his children, George III (Geordie), Mary (Mimi), and Lucy, his sisters, Binney (Missy) Wietlisbach and Elizabeth (Lisa) Hughes, his brothers James (Jimmy) Connell, Alexander (Alex) Connell, Justin (JB) Nast, Jeffery Nast and his devoted and loving partner, Maria Squicciarini, who was his true love for the last many years of his journey.George was enthusiastic about finance, sports and music, particularly live music, and pursued them passionately and with great fun and success. He spent his entire career in financial services working for firms including Kidder Peabody & Co, Rittenhouse Financial Services, The Bryn Mawr Trust Co. and his own firm, Washington Investment Consultants. He was a member of Gulph Mills Golf Club where he was a 2-time Club Champion and 2018 winner of The Harrison Cup while in the midst of his battle with cancer. He was also a member of The Merion Cricket Club, The Racquet Club of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Club, and The Misquamicut Club of Watch Hill, RI. In addition to his success on the golf course, he loved the sports of Racquets, Court Tennis and Cricket and traveled routinely, playing in tournaments and matches throughout the country. He loved music of all kinds. His first Grateful Dead concert certainly was a defining experience in his life. He often spoke about how welcoming the older Dead fans were to him as a kid, which hooked him on the band as much as the music, and which was a precursor to the concept of “radical inclusion” that he came to embrace in recent years.He was also an avid mountain climber, scaling peaks in Nepal as well as Mt. Whitney in California and was very proud of checking off his one bucket list item, scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.A private memorial service will be held for immediate family. A celebration of George’s life for all friends and family will be held on Friday November 16 at 12:30 PM at Gulph Mills Golf Club. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made in his name to Philabundance, 3616 South Galloway Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148.
