Robert George

“The Presidential Santa”
Columbus, Nebraska
1924 – 1998

International Santa Claus Hall of Fame Charter Member – December 2010

Robert George was Santa Claus to six U.S. Presidents and his year-round Christmas display charmed thousands of disadvantaged and disabled children at his home in Southern California. George started life as a barber from Columbus, Nebraska. He started to play Santa in 1949 to disadvantaged and needy children.

After retiring from cutting hair, he moved to Los Angeles in 1962 where he bought a home and decorated it as a permanent display called “Santa’s Dreamland.” He became the nations official Santa Claus in 1956 for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He subsequently accepted similar invitations from Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush.

A movie based loosely on George’s life called “A Different Kind of Christmas” aired on the Lifetime Channel in 1997