Gerald T. White, noted historian of U.S. business and economic history, died on December 15, 1989 in Laguna Hills, CA at the age of seventy-seven.

After leaving his boyhood home in Seattle, White graduated from DePauw University in 1934. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1938 and, after serving in the Army during World War II, began teaching at San Francisco State College. He went on to become chair of the history departments at San Francisco State College and the University of California, Irvine.

arly in his career White developed a love of writing that resulted in the completion and publication of six books, including A History of the Standard Oil Company of California and its Predecessors, Billions for Defense: Government Financing by the Defense Plant Corporation during World War II, and Baptism in Oil. White also served as an editor for The Historian, Pacific Historical Review, and Business History Review.

He was active in numerous professional organizations and served as president of the Pacific Coast Branch American Historical Association in 1968–69.