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                                                                EXHIBIT 24.01(g)

                               POWER OF ATTORNEY


     KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS that Kelly Ashton Sant Albano, a
Director of GENERAL HOST CORPORATION, a New York corporation ("the
Corporation"), hereby constitutes and appoints Harris J. Ashton, J. Theodore
Everingham and James R. Simpson, and each of them (with full power to each of
them to act alone), her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, for her and
on her behalf and in her name place and stead, to sign, execute and affix her
name thereto and file the Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended January 26, 1997, with the Securities and Exchange Commission
and any other appropriate authority, granting unto such persons and each of
them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing
requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises in order to
effectuate the same as fully to all intents and purposes as she herself might
or could do if personally present, hereby ratifying and confirming all that
such attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, may lawfully do or cause to
be done by virtue hereof.
     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has signed this Power of Attorney on
March 26, 1997.



                                                   /s/ Kelly Ashton Sant Albano
                                                   ----------------------------
                                                       Kelly Ashton Sant Albano