George Batchelor

Aviation entrepreneur and philanthropist who is the namesake of the Batchelor Children's Research Institute at the University of Miami's School of Medicine. A pilot for 65 years, Batchelor founded Arrow Air in California in 1947 and moved it to Florida in 1964. He also founded Batch Air, an aviation maintenance firm, and International Air leases, which bought and sold aircraft. Batchelor is believed to have donated more than $100 million to South Florida charities. His $15 million gift to the University of Miami Medical School was used to build the build the Batchelor Children's Research Institute. Other benefactors included Metrozoo - which named a cheetah, King George, after him - the Miami Museum of Science, Community Partnership for the Homeless and public television. In 1985, a plane leased from Arrow Air crashed in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 248 U.S. military personnel on board. The Federal Aviation Administration then grounded 10 other Arrow DC-8s. The company lost its business from the Air Force and soon filed for bankruptcy. Born in Shawnee, Okla., the American Indian descendant married five times, most recently three weeks ago to Amanda Rodgers, 41, of Houston. He is survived by his wife and two sons, Jonathan and Douglas; stepdaughters Amy and Sarah Thibodeaux; brothers Jim and Robbin; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.