George Winthrop Fairchild was a six-term Republican U.S. Representative from New York. Prior to joining congress, he was a businessman and investor, best known as the chairman from 1915 to 1924 of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company which later became IBM.

He was born in Oneonta, New York, to Jesse and Belle Fairchild. His father was a poor farmer. George and his siblings had to help their father on the farm and had little opportunity to study. He attended the local school until he was 14 years old, when he apprenticed to a printer.

Primarily self-educated, he rose to prominence through his own effort and enterprise. In 1890, He became the sole proprietor of the Oneonta Herald, a weekly newspaper. He was a pioneer in the time recording industry. In 1896, in association with his friend Harlow N. Bundy, he joined the Bundy Manufacturing Company, a time clock manufacturer, as both an investor and director. In 1900 Fairchild formed the International Time Recording Company as the selling agency of the Bundy Manufacturing Company, Willard and Frick Manufacturing Company, and Standard Time Stamp Company, which also manufactured a card recorder.