Remembering George Fonyo
George Fonyo, a founding-era friend of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and one of its most devoted ambassadors, passed away on July 23. He was 99.
George Fonyo smiles for a photo outside the Danforth Center before attending the 2025 Legacy Society Luncheon.
George was there from the very beginning. On the Danforth Center's first night, when only about 50 people had gathered in the new building, he listened to Bill Danforth describe how he, Peter Raven, and Virginia Weldon had sketched the vision for the Center on a napkin before a red-eye flight. George had known Bill since they were five years old, in Sunday school together. He was on board almost immediately, and that never changed.
Over more than two decades, George gave his time as generously as he gave his support. He was a founding member of the Friends Committee, a longtime member of the Danforth Society and the WHD Legacy Society, a docent, and a fixture of the Conversations series and Plantasia planning. But those who knew him well would say his greatest contribution was as a connector. “I just have a wild imagination,” he liked to say. “I try to think of connections that people don't think of.” He brought dozens of friends through the Center's doors over the years, several of whom became donors in their own right, including Gary Halls, whom George recruited after watching him do good work for the Saint Louis Zoo.
George Fonyo shares remarks at the Danforth Center's 2017 Legacy Luncheon.
“Everyone seemed to have a connection to George. He knew everyone in town,” said Derek Rapp, Danforth Center COO and former head of the Friends Committee. “George was always kind; he was always positive. He cared deeply about the Danforth Center. I know I’m not in alone in saying that I will miss him, but when I think of George, I smile.”
George spent his career in building products, most recently in aluminum curtain walls and flat panel cladding, retiring from EFCO Corporation in 2010 after a long run as a product manager. He was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he later chaired the Eliot Society Committee.
What drew George to the Center and kept him close to it for so long was the mission itself. “The Danforth Center mission appeals to me,” he said in a 2023 interview. “Critical solutions can all be done through plant science. If we're not successful here, there's just going to be a world of starvation. I won't be here, but I worry about it for my grandchildren.”
George Fonyo and his daughter Kate at the Danforth Center's 2023 Toast to Innovation.
Even in his final weeks, that worry, and that hope, hadn't faded. Tom Bander, the Center's vice president of development, saw George just days before he passed and found him moving through his apartment gathering notes, eager to talk through his latest ideas for the Danforth Center. George died on the same day the Center's new strategic plan was approved. Perhaps he may have felt, at last, that he could pass the baton.
“George lived life with gusto and in service to others,” said Bander. “He signed up for every committee and volunteer opportunity—whether greeting at events, calling to thank donors, or leading tours. He gave generously and brought many people into the Danforth Center donor community. George was unfailingly kind and a friend to all who worked at the Danforth Center. He will be greatly missed.”
George is survived by his daughters and grandchildren. A service to celebrate his life will take place Saturday, September 19 at 10:30 AM at the Church of St. Michael & St. George in Clayton, Missouri.