Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 22, 2020, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New Ulm. Monsignor Douglas Grams and Father Bruno Santiago will co-celebrate the Mass, and burial will follow in the New Ulm Catholic Cemetery. Full military honors will be provided by the New Ulm Area Comrades of Valor Honor Guard as well as the New Ulm Battery.

Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. on Monday at the New Ulm Event Center and will continue from 9-11 a.m. on Tuesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New Ulm.

Social distancing guidelines must be practiced, and all guests in attendance at the visitation and funeral will be required to wear a mask.

The service will be livestreamed on the Minnesota Valley Funeral Home’s Facebook page starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

George was born on August 4,1931 in New Ulm to Linus and Lucille (Kuske) Glotzbach. George’s great-great grandfather, Christian Adams, settled in New Ulm in 1855, and drowned in the Cottonwood River in 1856. Christian is Probate case # 1 in Brown County. His widow, Petronella, remarried thereafter and that is marriage # 1 in Brown County. In 2010 George donated 16 acres of land along the Cottonwood River to the City of New Ulm for the development of Adams Park.

George attended New Ulm public schools through 1948 until he moved to St. Paul, MN. He finished high school at St. Thomas Military Academy and graduated in 1949. He then attended the University of Minnesota where he served on the Student Union Board of Directors and graduated with a degree in Finance in 1953. After graduation he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He served as Adjutant of the 6580th Guided Missile Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico and then Officer-In-Charge of the Anchorage Courier Transfer Station at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. He is also a Korean War Veteran. While serving in the Air Force Reserves he was promoted to Captain.

In 1958 George began his insurance career as a Group Sales Representative for the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company in St. Paul. In 1965 he joined PBA Inc., a start-up insurance brokerage firm specializing in sales and administration of group insurance, where he later became President. The business grew rapidly and was acquired in 1972 by the international insurance brokerage firm of Alexander & Alexander (A&A). In 1978 George became Executive Vice President of Trust Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of A&A. In 1979 he moved to Baltimore, MD to become Vice Chair and CEO of Benefacts Inc., another subsidiary of A&A. From 1984 to his retirement in 1989 George held a number of senior positions in the Human Resource Management Group of A&A. He was named in Who’s Who in Finance and Industry in 1983.

In 1995 George retired to Santa Fe, NM. There he became President of the Newcomers Club, became a National Weather Service Observer, originated the area’s first Oktoberfest, and appeared as an extra with Woody Harrelson in the western movie “Hi-Lo Country.” He represented New Mexico in the National Senior Olympic Games in 1999 in the bicycling competition. He also completed his 1999 Telly Award winning video “The Glotzbach Family from Saxony to Minnesota, a Genealogy and History 1746-1997.”

George became active in local, national, and international German-American affairs in the 1970s. In 2015 he received the German-American Friendship Award from the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his efforts on behalf of German-American relations and in fostering and sustaining friendship between Germany and the United States. In 2016 he received a Citation of Merit from the Steuben Society of America for achievement in the Study of the History of New Ulm presented to him in New York. He was an American Monitor for Deutsche Welle, Germany’s worldwide shortwave radio. He was a long-time member of the New Ulm Turnverein, and the Germanic American Institute, Spielmannszug, and German Genealogy Society in the Twin Cities.

In 2003 George returned to his beloved hometown of New Ulm. He was instrumental in the city’s Germanic activities. He was a co-founder of the Hermann Monument Society in 2006, Festmeister at Heritage Fest in 2005, on Hermann’s Victory Committee in 2009, Grand Marshal of the Bavarian Blast Parade in 2016, Official of the Oktoberfest Germanic American Day Parade for eight years, a co-founder of the New Ulm Deutscher SprachKlub, and acted as publicist for the German-Bohemian Heritage Society and Stammtisch Society of New Ulm.

He was also active in civic affairs. He served on the boards of the Brown County Historical Society, Junior Pioneers, the New Ulm Area Foundation, the Minnesota Capital of the Day Committee and Fr. Alexander Berghold Monument Committee. He was Chair of the city’s Monuments and Cemetery Commission. He was an avid collector of Gag family memorabilia and gave over 2,500 artifacts to the Historical Society and Wanda Gag House Association. He was the author of numerous historical plaques around New Ulm. In 2016 George was named Tourism Person of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.

George’s other passions include bicycling and traveling across the U.S. and Europe. He biked thousands of miles and he traveled to Germany 22 times. Other interests include old cars, American Legion Post 132, Wildlife Forever, World War 1, Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity Foundation, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the Socha Murals in the State Street Theater, and keeping Anton Gag’s painting of “The Attack on New Ulm” in the St. Paul capitol.

George is survived by his wife, Sharon (Boesch) Glotzbach of New Ulm, sons Karl Glotzbach of St. Louis Park and Paul Glotzbach of St. Louis Park, daughter Mary Glotzbach of Edina and daughter Anne (Bill) Tlusty with granddaughters Sadie and Lucy of Los Angeles, CA. He was preceded in death by his parents.

He was a loving husband and much-loved husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoyed his final summer of 2020 with his granddaughters and family. He will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Lind House, the Way of the Cross, Allina Hospice at the NUMC, or the donor’s choice.

To leave an online condolence for his family or to sign the guestbook. Please visit: www.mvfh.org.

–Die Ende–

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