George John Palé was born March 11, 1916 in San Francisco, to Martha Fauré and Paul Palé. Martha had immigrated to the US in 1909 from France, and Paul was the California-born son of French immigrants. After they divorced in 1925, Martha began working as a housekeeper for William Andrews Clark, Jr. in Los Angeles. Clark provided for George's upbringing, including violin lessons and enrollment in St. John's Military Academy. At Clark's death in 1934, attorney's alleged Clark was in the process of adopting the teenager (there is no extant evidence that this was actually the case), and George, at 18 years old, was the beneficiary of the largest amount from the Clark estate.

George and his first wife, Helen Bajus, met at a party given by Clark for the members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and their families. George attended as one of Clark's guests, while Helen attended with her father, who was a trombonist in the orchestra. They married in 1935 and had 5 children: Joan, Nancy, Clark, Ronald, and Susan.

During World War II, Palé served in the US Army in the South Pacific, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war, he returned to Los Angeles, and owned several different businesses.

He divorced Helen in 1949 and moved with their 5 children to Maricopa County, Arizona, where he focused on agriculture, growing cotton and later, citrus. He married his second wife, Edna Nasser Palé soon after his divorce, and together, they had another daughter, Teresa. Palé served as a State Representative for Maricopa County from 1966 to 1970 and was responsible for introducting a bill to make the Bola tie the official Arizona state neckwear (this bill passed in 1971). He was also instrumental in a law called "The Pink Cadillac Tax," which imposed additional taxes on cars and luxury items purchased in other states by Arizona residents.

George John Palé died in Arizona on April 12, 1973, at the age of 57.

References consulted: - internal Clark Library documentation

- Palé family history from Stephen Gruse

- "George J. Pale dies at 57," Arizona Republic, April 29, 1973, page 22

- Ancestry.com census and California birth record databases