George Kerasotes (March 27, 1911 - March 15, 2001) was an American theatre owner and former head of Theatre Owners of America. During his time with

Kerasotes Theatres Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, LLC was a movie theatre operator in the United States. Based in Chicago, Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, LLC was the sixth-largest movie-theatre company in North America which had some 957 screens in 95 locations in C ...

, he helped to bring the operation from three local theaters to 550 Midwestern theatres.

Life

George Gus Kerasotes was born in 1911 in Springfield, Illinois, the son of Gus Kerasotes and Flora Staikos Kerasotes. He went to school in Springfield, Illinois. He graduated from High School and then went to Champaign, Illinois to study Law. He obtained his business law degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois. In 1947, on December 27, he married his wife Marjorie Marie Rourke. He studied at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. George Gus Kerasotes worked alongside his brothers (Nicholas, Louis and John) and his father, Gus Kerasotes, and his uncle Louis Kerasotes, in the movie theatre business, working for Kerasotes Theatres, Inc. Then in, 1960 when his father Gus Kerasotes died, he became president of the companies. George, Marjorie, Michael and Robert were the owners of several of the companies including Kerasotes Rialto, Inc. lease see 'Who's Who in America' 1960 for all those details GKC, Inc., GKC Theatres and GKC Beverages were owned by George, Marjorie, Michael & Robert, until Robert and Michael were bought out. Kerasotes died at the age of 89 after being diagnosed with

Alzheimers Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term memory, remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can incl ...

. His funeral was held at St. Anthony's Hellenic Greek Orthodox Church, Springfield, Illinois, which he helped to build and served as a director.

Business

Along with brothers, George Kerasotes helped build Kerasotes Theatres Inc founded in 1909 by his Greek immigrant father. Gus Kerasotes helped take Kerasotes Theatres Inc from a three-theater local operation in 1909 to a 225-theater Midwestern chain 50 years later. Kerasotes joined his father's company after earning a business degree from the University of Illinois. He became president of the company in 1960, when his father Gus Kerasotes died in Springfield, Illinois. Kerasotes organized one of the first theatre owner's associations; they were called the United Theatre Owners of Illinois. From 1959-1960 Kerasotes was the president of the Theatre Owners of America and he served as the chairman of the board there from 1960-1962. He also worked closely with the

National Association of Theatre Owners Cinema United, formerly known as the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the operators of worldwide major theater chains are members, as are ...

(which he founded and had permission from President Nixon his Kerasotes also served on the Motion Pictures Association Code Authority. Then in 1985, he started his own company, Motion Picture Production Code">Motion Pictures Association Code Authority. Then in 1985, he started his own company, George Kerasotes Corp as well as Carmike Cinemas">GKC Theatres Inc, which took ownership of 39 theaters formerly owned by his brothers. His son, Robert Anthony Kerasotes bought out the Butterfield Theaters in Michigan and the McLendon Theaters in Texas. Robert and George merged both companies in 1987, and they are now ranked in the top 100 theatre chains in the world. During his career Kerasotes was also a director of the Hellenic Golf Classic, Will Rogers Memorial Hospital and the Pioneers of America.

Awards

Kerasotes won such awards as the Will Rogers Outstanding Service Award in 1981 and the Variety Golden Heart Award in 1964.

References

External links

George Gus Kerasotes

Kerasotes Theatres
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerasotes, George 2001 deaths 1911 births American theatre managers and producers Theatre owners