Mari Hulman George

Mari Hulman George
File:Mari Hulman George - 2015 500 Festival - Stierch.jpg Mari Hulman George 2015 Indianapolis 500
Born	Mary Antonia Hulman December 26, 1934 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Died	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Alma mater	St. Mary-of-the-Woods College
Employer	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hulman & Company
Title	Chairman
Spouse(s)	Elmer George (1957–1976)
Children	Nancy, Josie, Kathi and Anton "Tony" Hulman George
Parent(s)	Anton "Tony" Hulman and Mary Fendrich Hulman

Mari Hulman George (born Mary Antonia Hulman on December 26, 1934, in Terre Haute, Indiana - died on November 3, 2018, in Indianapolis, Indiana) was the daughter of Anton "Tony" Hulman and Mary Fendrich Hulman, prominent Indiana philanthropists and business owners. She was the chairwoman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1988 to 2016, and also of Hulman & Company.

Family

Mari was the Hulmans' only child, but from the age of eleven she was often surrounded by the families of Indianapolis 500 drivers, whom she befriended. Perhaps it would come as little surprise that she would marry one such driver, Elmer George, on April 29, 1957. At 22 years of age, she became stepmother to Elmer's children from his first marriage, and the couple would go on to have four children together: three daughters, Nancy, Josie and Kathi; and one son, Anton Hulman George, who, like his namesake grandfather, would be better known as "Tony."

Elmer George, who met with little success as a driver, retired from racing in 1963, later becoming a Speedway vice-president and head of the IMS Radio Network.

For most of the couple's marriage, they owned a farm outside of Terre Haute, but spent much of their time at their 1,300-acre (5 km²) ranch in Wyoming.

On November 3, 2018, Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that Mari Hulman George had passed away.

The Chairman

After the death of Tony Hulman in 1977, his wife, Mary Fendrich Hulman, assumed the chairmanship of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Co., the family's primary businesses. When Mrs. Hulman's health began to deteriorate, she retired and passed the chairmanship of the companies to her daughter in 1988. Mari Hulman George held those positions until the summer of 2016. Shortly after the 2016 Indianapolis 500, Mari was facing declining health and was elected chairman emeritus of the family companies. At that same time, her son Tony George was elevated to the chairman position.

Like her father and mother before her, from 1997 to 2015, Mari officially started the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 races with the famous starting command, "(Ladies and) Gentlemen, start your engines!" In 2014, she was joined by Jim Nabors, and for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016, she was joined by the entire Hulman/George family. Mari had also given the command as a substitute for her mother in 1981.

Philanthropist and lover of animals

Like her parents, Mari Hulman George was well known throughout Indiana for her generosity to institutions of higher learning, with her alma mater, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in West Terre Haute, Indiana among the top recipients of her monetary gifts. The college maintains the Mari Hulman George School of Equine Studies, founded in part due to her love of horses.

In 2001, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security renamed their search-and-rescue training area at Camp Atterbury the Mari Hulman George Search and Rescue Training Center, in recognition of her contributions to the care of animals displaced and otherwise affected by disasters. She has also been active in the rescue and adoption of racing greyhounds.