Watts dead at 82

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Milwaukee (AP) – George Watts, who sold fine china, silver and linen at his  downtown business and tea and sandwiches at the tea room upstairs, has died at  the age of 82 — five years after making an unsuccessful run for Milwaukee mayor.

Watts’  death late Sunday from natural causes at his town of Grafton home will bring no  changes to the business that bears his name, said Sue Thome-John, president of  George Watts & Son Inc.

She said Monday that Watts had not run the day-to-day  operation of his company since 1998, when he decided to challenge then-Mayor John  Norquist in the 2000 election.

That’s when he appointed Thome-John  as president and chief executive officer and named a four-person team of executives  to run the business.

Thome-John, who has been with the company for 17 years,  said the business is owned by Watts’ widow, Martha.

The business, dating  back to at least 1870, was known as Massey & Co. before being purchased by  Watts’ grandfather, also named George.

None of the five Watts children  works in the business. A son, J.D., ran the company for a brief time during the  mid-1980s when his father made an unsuccessful run for governor.