George Banta

George Riddle Banta, Sr. (July 16, 1857 – September 23, 1935) was the founder of the George Banta Company (later the Banta Corporation) and an influential figure in the development of the collegiate Phi Delta Theta fraternity and Delta Gamma women's fraternity.

Born in Covington, Kentucky, Banta attended Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana, where he became an active member of Phi Delta Theta. After graduating in 1876, he was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1878. He moved to Menasha, Wisconsin, around 1885, where in 1901 he established the George Banta Printing Company. He remained active in the management of the company until his death on September 23, 1935.

Much of the company's early growth came from educational contracts. George Banta, a member of Phi Delta Theta, secured a contract to print its national magazine. Other national fraternities and sororities followed; the company would also publish Banta's Greek Exchange, a monthly review of fraternity and sorority news, and several editions of Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. His father, David Demaree Banta (1833-1896), was a trustee of Indiana University in Bloomington and was the first dean of its School of Law. Through this connection, the company also won orders for university catalogs and yearbooks, textbooks, and magazines.

Banta served as alderman (1890–1891), and mayor (1892, 1895, 1902–1903) of Menasha, and served on the boards of several local companies.

He died at age 78 in 1935 in Menasha, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Neenah.

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