George Francis Willis

George Francis Willis (1880, in Waynesville, North Carolina[1] – July 20, 1932[2]) was an American millionaire who made his fortunes with patent medicines.

Willis attended Bingham Military School in Asheville, North Carolina, and later moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he became involved with a patent medicine firm.

Although chemists at the time branded it quackery, as it was simply fortified wine with herbs and a laxative, the tonic sold very well nevertheless.

Willis sold his firm in 1922 but then made another fortune with Zonite, an antiseptic preparation based on Dakin's solution, widely used in World War I.

The distinctive Tudor Revival architecture of the town was inspired by a recent trip that he and his wife had taken to Stratford-upon-Avon, England.