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George Ballas

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Cause of death
  
Lung cancer

Name
  
George Ballas

Organizations founded
  
Known for
  
Inventor of Weed Eater

Grandchildren
  
Occupation
  
Entrepreneur

Children
  
Corky Ballas

Nationality
  
American

Role
  
Corky Ballas' father


George Ballas httpssiwsjnetpublicresourcesimagesNABM17


Full Name
  
George Charles Ballass

Born
  
June 28, 1925 (
1925-06-28
)

Spouse(s)
  
Maria Marulanda (1951-2011, his death)

Relatives
  
Mark Ballas (grandson)Peter Ballas (brother)

Died
  
June 25, 2011, Houston, Texas, United States

Parents
  
Charles Ballas, Maria Lymnaos Ballas

Similar People
  
Corky Ballas, Shirley Ballas, Mark Ballas, Joseph Stalin

George Ballas and the Weed Eater


George Charles Ballas, Sr. (June 28, 1925 – June 25, 2011) was an American entrepreneur. He invented the first string trimmer, known as the Weed Eater in 1971. He is the father of ballroom dancer, Corky Ballas, and grandfather of professional dancer Mark Ballas of Dancing with the Stars.

Contents

Early life

Ballas was born in Ruston, Louisiana. He was the son of Charles Ballas and Maria (née Lymnaos), who were Greek immigrants that ran a restaurant. His brother is Peter Ballas.

He enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 17 in 1942 during World War II and was a bombardier. Ballas would later serve in the Korean War.

Family

He married Maria Marulanda in 1951.

He had five children, Corky Ballas, George Ballas Jr., Michelle Ballas Pritchard, Maria Ballas Jamail, and Lillian Ballas Miles.

His grandson, Mark Ballas is a dancer in Dancing with the Stars. He had six other grandchildren.

Inventor

Ballas got the idea for the trimmer while driving through an automatic car wash, where the rotating brushes gave him an idea. Using a tin can laced with fishing line and an edge trimmer, he tried out his idea, which worked. After some refinements, he shopped it around to several tool makers, who all rejected his invention. He went on to develop the garden tool himself. The first year, sales were over a half million dollars. By 1977 they were $80 million, and Ballas sold his company the following year to Emerson Electric Company.

References

George Ballas Wikipedia


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