George F. Freytag was a botanist and an expert on plant genetic resources, spending much of his professional career in Central and South America.

George Frederick Freytag was born on February 4, 1928, in Laramie, Wyoming, to Frederick and Evelyn Freytag. He earned his undergraduate degree in botany from the University of Wyoming, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He and his wife Alcinia had four children, Evelyn, Melvin, Paul, and Edward.

Freytag spent more than 20 years in Central and South America. For many years he was professor of agronomy at Escuela Agricola Panamericana, in El Zamorano, Honduras. In 1972 he spent two years in Brazil, where he was project director for the University of Wisconsin. In 1974 he was a research geneticist for the USDA in Puerto Rico. Freytag's areas of expertise were on plant genetic resources and bean breeding. George Freytag died on September 9, 2011, in Fort Collins.