Upon graduation from the University of Michigan’s Department of Forestry, then led by Filibert Roth, George Banzhaf (1899-1987) began his career in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He joined with Russell Watson, a U-M professor of forestry, in the study of 250,000 acres to determine its potential for forestry, agriculture, and recreation. Their partnership led to the creation of Banzhaf & Watson, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., the first independent forestry consulting business in the Lake States and only the third in the United States.

The primary focus of the pair’s business was to bring science-based forest management to private lands. One of their initial projects used a selection harvest system for the management of a large northern hardwood forest. This was one of the first occurrences of organized forest management on private lands in the region.

In the early 1930s, Banzhaf ventured out on his own and formed George Banzhaf & Company. During his tenure leading this organization, he brought his consulting firm to nationwide prominence. During the 1940s, he operated two sawmills. Additionally, he developed a series of lectures to assist during the transition after Professor Donald Matthews, the leading forest management authority at the University of Michigan, passed away.

From 1950 until his death in 1987, Banzhaf developed sustainable wood supply programs for pulp and paper facilities around the country. His firm appraised more than 30 million acres of forest land as a result of merger and acquisition activities. In the early 1970s, his firm was selected to conduct a nationwide review of forest management on all public lands by the congressionally-established public land law review commission.

As a capstone to his career, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Forestry Hall of Fame in 1986. His son, William "Bill" Banzhaf, is also a SEAS graduate and now serves on the school’s External Advisory Board.