George J. Esseff Sr.
West Lake Village, California

On each mission, the Executive Committee of LARP chooses a corporate leader from the Lebanese Diaspora to lead the trip to Lebanon. The LARP III Corporate leader is George J. Essaff, Sr. of West Lake Village, California.

George J. Esseff, Sr. is President of Titanium Products Design, Inc. for developing consumer products in titanium; he is also President of the Esseff Foundation. He has been in the titanium industry for a total of 53 years. George retired from the day-to-day operations with Supra Alloys, Inc. in 1997 at which time, his son George Jr., took over as CEO. George Sr. remains as a consultant. He now dedicates most of his time to philanthropic causes in support of his foundation.

In his position as chemist and metallurgist for the government in 1951, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, he worked with titanium and invented an article supporting titanium rack. Later, he developed and patented a titanium clad aluminum cored spline, which became the basic component for the use of titanium for all other fixtures in anodizing racks. Mr. Esseff was at the forefront of developing applications for titanium in areas of the industrial markets such as the metal finishing industry, the chemical/petrochemical field, and recreational markets such as bicycles, marine hardware and others.

George Sr. attended Catholic schools for sixteen years, and he graduated from Saint Mary's H.S. King's College degree in Biology and Chemistry with a minor in Physics and Philosophy. He is married to Rosemary for 60 years; they have 4 children and eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.