George Hines died on June 23, 2002 after an 18-munth battle with throat cancer. George came to the Academy with the Class of '60 after spending a year at Providence College. Throughout his four years at USAFA he displayed the talents that were to mark the rest of his life: a man of very diverse interests and abilities. He was an accomplished fencer, the chairman of the Class Ring Committee, and editor-in-chief of the Dodo, a cadet squadron commander, and at graduation the inaugural winner of the Outstanding Cadet in Leadership Studies Award. After graduation George was a KC-97 navigator for four years. He then earned a master's degree from Syracuse University and returned to USAFA as an instructor in the Psychology Department. In 1966 the Superintendent selected George to be the second Executive Secretary of the Association of Graduates (AOG). George set in place many association policies and procedures that pointed the direction for AOG efforts for many years. He left the Air Force in 1970 and ultimately his travels took him to New Zealand.
In 1973 George Hines accepted a position as the foundation professor to establish the School of Business at Massey University, Palmerston North, and business education in New Zealand was changed forever. Indeed, for many people, life was never the same.
George was a visionary, always ahead of his time, with the energy, enthusiasm and skills to make things happen; catching people in his dreams of what could be, making them a part of what would be.
Professor Ralph Love, his successor as Dean, friend and colleague of 30 years, said at his memorial service, "In developing the Business School at Massey, George led a revolution of change. He provided not only the vision for the changes but also the vision for people to undertake missions which seemed almost impossible. The George Hines' spirit of accepting a vision and bringing about change lives on in the work of the many whose lives he has touched. George, rest well in the knowledge that our spirits and vision move together and are together."
Under his direction, the business school became the largest in the South Pacific. During this time he also made a significant contribution to management education in Fiji. In 1981 George joined the foundation staff of the University of East Asia in Macau, which in 1989, as the Asia Pacific Institutes consortium based in Hong Kong, offered international business programs in Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Malaysia, New Zealand, San Francisco and Vancouver. In 1998 George returned to Massey as Director of the Centre for International Programmes, with a particular interest in the MBA in Aviation Management in Singapore, China and Vietnam.
His 30 years of teaching international management, business and public policy and psychology in the Asia Pacific region reflected George's philosophy of the special responsibilities of those with special talents. He had very special talents himself, capable of organizing an institution from the ground up, simultaneously recognizing and developing the individual talents of both faculty and students.
George's unique perspective was expressed in writings, speeches and lectures, where his ability to speak extemporaneously at length, wittily and clearly developing his argument weaving together materials from many sources was envied by many.
There was always a mystique about George, an air of mystery and elusiveness. Charismatic and a talented communicator, he was nevertheless a very private person. He was multitalented, multifaceted; a complex character who insisted he was just a simple soul. Far from it. Unpretentious yes, masking a sharp mind with consuming intellectual curiosity on a quest for what might yet be, and what was still to be done. A man of many ideas who couldn't wait to implement them.
An avid reader with eclectic tastes, cosmopolitan, the quintessential citizen of the world, a lover of music equally at home listening to Willie Nelson in Luckenback, Texas; Daniel Barenboim conducting the Chicago Philharmonic; Dame Kiri te Kanawa in London; jazz at the Newport Festival; or brass bands on parade in Auckland, New Zealand or Washington, D.C. That's George.