About George B. Delaplaine Jr.

George B. Delaplaine Jr. is a prominent Frederick businessman. He is president of Great Southern Enterprises, Inc. and chair of the board of Delaplaine Foundation, Inc.

He served as past president and CEO of the Great Southern Printing and Manufacturing Company, parent company of the Frederick News-Post, GS Communications, Inc., the Job Shop and GS Net.Works. He held positions of editor and publisher, reporter and columnist of the newspapers for five decades and served as CEO of cable operations.

He was inducted into the Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame by the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce.

Delaplaine’s mother, Ruth Carty Delaplaine, graduated from Hood in 1913, and his sister, Frances “Franny” Delaplaine Randall, graduated from Hood in 1945. He and his late wife, Bettie, who he met while she worked as an assistant in Hood’s biology department, both received honorary degrees in 2008.

In all, the Delaplaine and Randall families have 12 alumni, including from the Frederick Female Seminary (Hood’s precursor), and they have had two members on the Board of Trustees and five members on the Board of Associates.