Thatcher Grey

Thatcher Grey is the father of Meredith, Lexie, and Molly Grey. He originally married Ellis Grey, but they divorced and he later married Susan Grey, but she died following complications in a surgery. He is also the grandfather to Laura Grey-Thompson.

History
Very little is known about Thatcher Grey's history. At some point, he met and fell in love with Ellis Grey. After their wedding, they had Meredith Grey. When Meredith was five, Ellis left Thatcher. Some time after their divorce, he met Susan Grey, married her, and had two daughters (Lexie Grey and Molly Grey.) He did not try to contact Meredith during the time of their 20-year estrangement. However, he remarried and when they ended up back at Seattle Grace Hospital when Molly was pregnant, Susan, Thatcher's new wife, encouraged them to bond.

Susan Grey, experiencing a prolonged case of hiccups, was later admitted to Seattle Grace for what should have been a routine procedure to stop her hiccups. Unfortunately, she experienced very rare complications and soon died. Thatcher blamed his daughter, Meredith, for her step-mother's death, and quickly began drinking heavily.

As a result of his alcoholism, he was admitted to SGH for drunkenness and having his arm put through a window. Meredith stitched him up and they bonded again. Lexie later told Meredith that it was only because he was drunk and that he has mood swings. She gives an example by saying that one day he wrote her a check for 20 thousand dollars because she deserved everything life had to offer, but just before that, he had called her an ungrateful bitch.

After alienating everyone, he went into rehab and he soon visited Seattle Grace, twenty-nine days sober. Richard Webber paged the two Grey sisters to his office to listen to Thatcher, after listening to his apology, Meredith wished him good luck, congratulated him, and left. Lexie hugged him and forgave him.

That night he went to dinner at Camparos with Lexie and Mark.

He is next seen at the hospital with liver disease, cirrhosis that was a result of his alcoholism. He was told he needed a liver transplant to survive. UNOS would not allow him to go on the transplant list as he had only been sober for 90 days and he needed to be at least sober for 1 year. Lexie automatically volunteered, as it would only mean her losing some of her liver, but she was not a match. Meredith was a match and after some discussion, both Meredith and Thatcher agreed to the operation and it was successful.

Personality
Albeit awkward, Thatcher is a loving father and although he was intimidated when Meredith came to see him years after his divorce with Ellis, he loved her. Susan constantly encouraged him to renew his relationship with Meredith and after a while, they did. However, Susan died very suddenly at Seattle Grace Hospital and Thatcher lashed out at Meredith and blamed her for Susan's death, slapping her in the face. He later forbade Meredith to come to Susan's funeral service.

Ellis Grey
They were married for about seven years before his wife began having an affair with Richard Webber. Eventually, Ellis's affair and time away from home put too much strain on their marriage, and Ellis left with Meredith.

Meredith was a small child at the time of the divorce, and roughly twenty years would pass before they saw each other again. Thatcher blames Ellis somewhat for his estrangement from Meredith, saying Ellis was "cold" and wouldn't let him get to know his daughter.

Susan Grey
After the disintegration of his first family, Thatcher married his second wife, Susan, and had two more daughters, Lexie and Molly. Susan eventually died, causing Thatcher to develop a serious drinking problem.

Danielle
Thatcher met Danielle at one of his AA meetings. They apparently hit it off and he said that she makes him a better person, though he did not inform Lexie that he was dating again. Danielle also had a drinking problem, but had been sober for a while. Lexie originally referred to her as a "tatted-up skank", feeling embarrassed and sad that her father had a new girlfriend and had not confided in her. Later on, Lexie apologized to Danielle, and became more friendly.

Career
When Ellis thought that George was Thatcher, she screamed at him and told him that she didn't care how his day was or about his grants and his students. Meredith also mentioned to Izzie that during dinner with Susan and her father they had discussed his research. This suggests that he was perhaps a professor of some sort. It was stated by Meredith that Thatcher got his first job at a university after Ellis "pulled a few strings" when she was offered a job.

Notes and Trivia

 * Both Ellis and Richard Webber think that George bears a slight resemblance to Thatcher.
 * He snores loudly, a trait which his eldest daughter, Meredith, inherited.