George Howe was born on October 3, 1876, in Wilmington, North Carolina. A graduate of Princeton and the University of Halle (Germany), Howe was an influential professor at the University of North Carolina for thirty-three years (1903-1936). During World War I, he served as a member of the North Carolina Council of Defense. Howe was a nephew of President Woodrow Wilson. He died on June 22, 1936, in Richmond, Virginia.