George B. Wilson (died 1922) was an American mechanic and garage owner for Long Island who infamously killed Jay Gatsby and himself in a murder-suicide in West Egg, New York in 1922.
Biography[]
George B. Wilson was born in Long Island, New York, and he lived a working-class life, opening a garage in the desolate "Valley of Ashes" wasteland between West Egg and New York City. Wilson was married to Myrtle Wilson, who had an affair with wealthy West Egg resident Tom Buchanan, a regular customer of Wilson's. In 1922, Myrtle was struck and killed by Daisy Fay in a car accident, but Wilson falsely concluded that the car's owner, Jay Gatsby, was behind the wheel when his wife was killed. Wilson walked to Gatsby's mansion with a pistol concealed in a paper bag, and he shot Gatsby at his pool, killing him; Wilson then turned the gun on himself.