he conductor for many years and Sunday Music Club, now the Civic Music Association. He chaired the reorganization effort for the Quincy Community Little Theatre and the Quincy Conservatory of Music and served on the boards of Culver-Stockton College, Blessing Hospital, the Quincy Art Center and the First Union Congregational Church. George was also dedicated to architectural preservation. His passion for history and architectural preservation led to his involvement in the complete restoration of the Dr. Richard Eells House (1835 Underground Railroad site), the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County Restoration Committee, the Charles Henry Bull House and its Carriage House, the Richard Newcomb House, William S. Warfield House, State Savings Loan and Trust Company (Granite Bank), Ernest Wood Office and Studio, the former Free Public Library at 4th and Maine St., placing several of them on the National Register of Historic Places and the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. Geroge's passion for the arts was not contained solely to the Quincy area. Statewide, he was the organizer and first chairman of the Illinois Arts Council, board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ravinia Festival, Illinois State Museum, MacMurray College, and governing life member of the Art Institute of Chicago. His visionary leadership and experience founding and supporting organizations that enhanced life and promoted the arts in Quincy and Illinois led him to the national stage. Nationally, George was a founder of the Americans for the Arts and Business Committee for the Arts and served on the boards of the Council on Foundations, American Federation for the Arts, American Bicentennial Commission, American Symphony Orchestra League, and was an advisor and arts and culture consultant to UNESCO, National Endowment for the Arts, Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Peace Corps. His survivors include his half-sister, Suzanne Irwin-Wells of Quincy and three nieces, Pamela Wells Irwin Suran of Jerusalem, Israel, Victoria Irwin Campbell and Ashley Irwin Buehler, of the Quincy area. He was preceded in death by his father Macaulay (Mac) Irwin, his mother Mrs. Ethel Smith Irwin Gerdes, his stepfather Mr. William F. Gerdes, Jr., his brother Bruce Irwin, half-brother Steven D. Irwin, and his grandparents Leaton Irwin and Lois Wells Irwin and Rolla A. and Clara Smith and a nephew, Bruce R. Irwin. George was buried in a private ceremony in the Irwin plot in Woodland Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Arts Quincy, the Irwin Fund at the Community Foundation, Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association for George M. Irwin Conductor's Fund or the Friends of the Dr. Richard Eells House. Memorial donations may be made online at https://memorials.hansenspear.com Hansen-Spear Funeral Directors are in charge of the arrangements.