George Abram Dusenbury III, 71, of San Francisco, Calif., formerly of Atlanta, Ga., died on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014.

Born in Milwaukee and raised in Tryon, George was the husband and best friend of Patricia James Dusenbury, to whom he was married for 49 years.  He is survived by Pat and their four children, George IV (married to Courtenay McKinnon, father of George V and William), Eric (married to Karin Battaglin, father of Max, Grace and James), Kara, and Robert (married to Mary Light, father of Jasper and Milo) – as well as his sister Adele Dusenbury and brother John Dusenbury.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, George had a long and successful career in advertising, where he was an award-winning copywriter in New York City during advertising’s golden age of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. With the birth of their fourth child, George and Pat returned to Chapel Hill, where they had met on a blind date while in college.  After 12 years, and having co-founded the Dusenbury & Alban advertising agency, George was recruited by a large New York agency to open a regional office in Atlanta. He and Pat spent most of the next 29 years in Atlanta, before recently moving to San Francisco.

A studio art major in college, George painted throughout his adult life. As an artist, he sought to add a little color to a world that is too often gray. His paintings tend to be energetic and colorful, expressing people’s zest for life – the pure joy of being alive. As varied as his paintings are, they all have one thing in common: helping people enjoy life a little more than they would without them.

The family will host a small celebration of George’s life at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14, at the home of Eric and Karin Dusenbury. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the University of North Carolina’s Ackland Art Museum or your favorite charity.