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.

Early Life
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.

Meredith's Visit
After the realization that she didn't want to make confessional tapes on her deathbed, Meredith looked up her father's address and went to visit him. She asked him why he didn't try harder to stay with her mother and why he just left. He asked if there was anything she needed and she said no and left. ("Yesterday")

Molly's Pregnancy
Thatcher later came to the hospital with his new wife, Susan, and their younger daughter, Molly, when Molly was pregnant. During his visit, Meredith avoided him, not wanting to see him. ("The Name of the Game")

When Laura was four days old, Thatcher was sent to check on Laura because Susan and Molly both had the flu and couldn't. While he was sitting with her, her stomach became distended and he had to give authorization so they could take her into emergency surgery. ("Six Days, Part 1")

Thatcher was at the hospital with Laura while she recovered from her surgery, visiting her and updating her mother and grandmother on her condition. ("Six Days, Part 2")

Visiting Lexie
When Molly was taken in for an emergency c-section, Thatcher was at Harvard Medical School, visiting Lexie. ("Don't Stand So Close to Me")

Family Dinner
When Ellis died, Susan and Thatcher came to the hospital to check on Meredith, to make sure she was okay. Susan also invited Meredith to dinner. Derek convinced her to move the dinner to her own house and said he'd be there to support her. Cristina also volunteered to interrupt 45 minutes in with a fake crisis in case she needed to bail. When the power went out during dinner, Thatcher left to go flip the fuse, but stayed in the laundry room, needing a break from the dinner. He and Derek chatted about Meredith. Eventually, Thatcher restored the power and rejoined the dinner. ("Scars and Souvenirs")

Susan's Death
Thatcher came to the hospital with Susan when she had prolonged acid reflux and persistent hiccups. While Susan was in for a procedure that they hoped would stop the reflux, Meredith and Thatcher talked and bonded. They even speculated that Susan was faking the hiccups in order to get them to talk. Thatcher later took Susan home after her procedure. ("The Other Side of This Life, Part 1")

Thatcher came back to the hospital when Susan had a fever. They started antibiotics for an infection and while she was getting a central line placed, Meredith and Thatcher had lunch in the cafeteria. Susan later had to be rushed into surgery with a very rare complication. Despite their best efforts, she died in surgery. When Meredith delivered the news to him, he slapped her, saying that Susan had trusted her and she let her down. ("The Other Side of This Life, Part 2")

On the day of Susan's funeral, Thatcher came to the hospital drunk and told Meredith not to come. ("Testing 1-2-3")

Alcoholism
After Susan's death, Thatcher started drinking heavily. Once, when he was trying to go to the store after drinking, Alex offered to go for him to pick up his scotch to keep him from driving drunk. ("Physical Attraction... Chemical Reaction")

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. ("Forever Young")

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. ("No Good at Saying Sorry (One More Chance)")

Liver Transplant
He is next seen at the hospital with liver disease 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. ("Tainted Obligation")

Christmas Party
Thatcher came to the Christmas party at Meredith's House. While he was there, he noticed that Richard Webber was drinking eggnog and warned Meredith about his drinking, though she wasn't concerned. ("Holidaze")

Kidney Stone
Thatcher came into the hospital with abdominal pain. After some tests, he was diagnosed with a kidney stone which was so large that Bailey operated to remove it. His surgery went well. ("P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)")

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. ("P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)")

Meredith Grey
Meredith never knew what it was like to have a father, and even went so far as to tell Thatcher this when he came to the hospital for a liver transplant. She never really forgave Thatcher for not fighting for her when he had the chance, and is very cold towards him. They started to make amends when his wife Susan pushed them to, but after Susan's sudden death, Thatcher slapped Meredith, blaming her for his wife's death. Later, when he stopped drinking and told Meredith, she merely wished him good luck.

Lexie Grey
Lexie was the daughter of Thatcher and Susan, and they all had a loving family. Thatcher was extremely proud of Lexie's achievements, and as their younger child Molly said, Lexie was the topic of boasting for Thatcher when she began to study medicine in Harvard. Lexie believed that Thatcher was the best father, telling Meredith that he even went to her 5th grade graduation, which "wasn't even real". Lexie was devastated when she did not have a matching liver to her father, but rather Meredith did, and she begged Meredith to give up a piece of her liver to keep Thatcher alive.

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.
 * Since he has not been seen since P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), when he was treated for kidney stones, it is unknown if he stayed sober following Lexie's death.
 * He has the same blood type as his daughter, Meredith, AB.

Appearances
Thatcher Grey Thatcher Grey