George Rebh, businessman, dies at 63
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Version 0 of 1. George L. Rebh, a federal employee and sketch artist in the 1970s who later became a real estate salesman and businessman working in advertising and promotions, died Sept. 25 at a hospital in Arlington, Va. He was 63. The cause was urothelial cancer that metastasized to his liver, said his brother, Richard Rebh. Mr. Rebh was a project officer at the Office of Emergency Preparedness in the 1970s and early 1980s, and his specialties included preparations for nuclear and natural disasters. At night and on weekends, he was an independent, freelance graphic artist who did sketches and portraits of celebrities and sports figures, including House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. and Washington Redskins coaches such as Joe Gibbs. On a contract basis, he worked for the Style section of The Washington Post and other publications. He drew illustrations of the Watergate hearings in 1973. He did the official portrait at CIA headquarters of George H.W. Bush, the former president and CIA director. And he did the official presidential and vice presidential portraits for several presidential inaugural committees. After leaving the federal government, he sold real estate mainly along the New Jersey and Delaware shores and in the vicinity of Lake George, N.Y. In Atlantic City in the early 1980s, he closed more than $100 million in real estate sales, his family said. For the past 20 years, Mr. Rebh worked with his brother in the in-store advertising and promotion business. George Rebh was co-founder and executive vice president of Floorgraphics, a business that specialized in in-store advertisements. The ads were superimposed into the vinyl flooring in the aisles of the stores where the advertised products were sold. That part of the business was later sold to News American Marketing for $29.5 million as part of a settlement of an unfair competition lawsuit by Floorgraphics against News American, a unit of the media empire controlled by Rupert Murdoch. In 2014, a state judge in Philadelphia ruled that four top officers of Floorgraphics — including Mr. Rebh and his brother — had unfairly been allotted $12 million of the proceeds of the sale. The Rebh brothers were allotted $4.8 million each. That money should go to the corporate treasury, not to the personal accounts of the four officers, the judge ruled. Richard Rebh said the ruling is being appealed. The company currently runs a $20 million a year coupon-promotion operation in 1,500 stores, including Food Lion, in which certain customers can get discount coupons on certain products. George Leonard Rebh was born in Washington on Oct. 5, 1951. His father was a career Army officer and George grew up in Washington and at military bases across the country. As a youth, he was an Eagle Scout. In 1973, he graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts. He coached youth sports teams and designed logos for school and neighborhood sports teams. In 1991, he married Elizabeth Ervin. Besides his wife, survivors include three children, Emily, Christina, and George Rebh, all of Arlington; his brother, Richard Rebh of Arlington; and his father and stepmother, retired Army Maj. Gen. George A. Rebh and Joyce Ann Rebh of the Fairfax facility at Fort Belvoir, Va. |