To me, the saddest thing about George was that he seems to have merely existed, while he was alive. From the article, he didn't seem to have any passions or ambitions. He didn't seem to want to go and see things, experience things, do things. He died in the same apartment, he was born in. He didn't really live, he just was, completely passive, until he wasn't.
At least that is the impression I got from reading this.
I wouldn't say that. The fact that him and "the Dude" "solved all the world's problems" in a parking lot seem to suggest he was a thinking person with at least some desire to better some of those around him. Not to mention the fact he thought about and wrote a will, the fact that he was in love, the fact he was missed by the vanishingly few who knew him.
At least that is the impression I got from reading this.