Born in Oneonta, N.Y., in 1854, George W. Fairchild was previously a farm
worker, master printer, newspaper publisher, businessman, investor and six-term
Republican Congressman before becoming president and, later, chairman of the board of
directors of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, the forerunner of today's IBM.
Mr. Fairchild is considered one of the pioneers of the time recording industry. He joined the Bundy Manufacturing Company, a time clock manufacturer, as both an investor and director in 1896. In the immediate years thereafter, Bundy implemented a series of mergers, acquisitions and consolidations, including Mr. Fairchild's creation of the International Time Recording Company, of which he became president in 1900. In 1911, Charles R. Flint led the merger of the International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Company and the Tabulating Machine Company to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R). Mr. Fairchild became president of the new company.
While representing the 34th District of New York in Congress, Mr. Fairchild also served as Vice President of the International Peace Conference. He was chairman of IBM, which C-T-R had been renamed in February 1924, at the time of his death in December of that year.