George R. Perry (1849-1927) was the son of George H. Perry and Hannah Perry. George Sr. was “prominently identified” with the fur business in Detroit, but did not settle there until after the family had lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where George Jr. was born. George Jr. was educated mostly in the Detroit area public school system and completed his high school career in 1864, whereupon he was apprenticed in the druggist’s trade. Mr. Perry made the druggist’s business his own until 1874, when he married Miss Jennie Blake and moved to Chicago. Perry soon came to Grand Rapids for the position of a bookkeeper for a wholesale grocer firm, eventually becoming a member of the firm and later having his name tacked onto the firm’s title.

In 1891, Perry left the firm of Hawkins and Perry to run his own grocery business all throughout the remainder of his life, despite his political career. George R. Perry, a card-carrying Democrat, held the position of Grand Rapids city treasurer from 1886 through 1896. In 1898, Perry was elected mayor of Grand Rapids, serving until 1902, the duration of two terms. Perry’s claim to fame, however, came in a most unfortunate way, as he was supposedly involved in a public bonds scandal in the early nineteen-hundreds. Perry was never convicted of the charge, and remained active in politics for much of the rest of his life, although he was never elected mayor again. Besides his political and business dealings, Perry was also a prominent member of the local chapter of the brotherhood of masonry, as well as of the Knights of Pythias. Perry died at the age of 78 in his Grand Rapids home, leaving behind, by way of children, a Miss Jeanette Perry.