George Francis Knapp Jr.

George Francis Knapp, Jr.

George Francis Knapp, Jr. passed away peacefully in his home at Cedar Crest Village, Pompton Plains on August 19, 2017 after a long illness.

Born in Belle Harbor, New York on September 6th, 1931 to George and Annette Knapp, George was educated at St. Frances de Sales grammar school, St Augustine High School, and on to earn a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College in 1953. Shortly after, he was drafted into the US Army Signal Corps at the end of the Korean War, and honorably discharged in 1956. He later received an MBA from New York University in 1964 and attended Harvard University's Advanced Management Program in 1974. After 15 years as a member of the Board of Trustees of Manhattan College, George was awarded an honorary PhD in American Letters in 2004.

George's professional life began as an engineer in 1956 at NY Telco where he rose to various Executive positions until 1966 when he moved to ITT Corp in Santiago, Chile. In 1968 he was appointed President of Puerto Rico Telco where he ultimately sold the company to the government of Puerto Rico in 1974. Returning to New York, he was appointed VP and Group Executive of ITT's 22 telecom companies until 1982 when he moved to Brussels, Belgium as Director of ITT Europe. He returned to New York with ITT until his retirement in 1988, which was followed by years of consulting for various venture capital and investment groups in New Jersey.

On a personal note, George married his high school sweetheart, Ann Eileen Stanley, also of Belle Harbor, in January 1954. Together they had five children and 63 years of happy marriage. Sadly, Eileen passed away in April 2017.

George is survived by daughters Eileen Sanchez, married to Eduardo of Atlanta, GA, Kathleen Hayes, married to John of Allendale, Margaret Knapp-Palin and Bernard Boyle of Allendale, and son Richard Knapp, married to Kimberly of Tulsa, OK. He was pre-deceased by his son George F. Knapp III in 1983. George had 11 grandchildren who adored him: Christina Rush, Vanessa Lambrix, Daniel Sanchez, Ryan, Sean and Colin Hayes, Jesse Graglia, George and Quincy Knapp, Erin and Dylan Palin, and 7 great-grandchildren: Claire, Havana, Landon, Walker, Quincy, Royce and Delphina.

On Thursday, August 24th at 10:30am a funeral mass will be held at Most Blessed Sacrament RC Church, Franklin Lakes. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that those wishing to make memorial donations consider Manhattan College.

For further information please visit www.vpmemorial.com or call us at (201) 891-4770..