George Joseph Goldsborough Jr.

George J. Goldsborough, Jr. of Talbot County, a West Point graduate, war veteran, prominent trial lawyer, law school professor, author, and avid fisherman, died December 12, 2001 at the Talbot Hospice House, Easton, MD. He was 76. Mr. Goldsborough graduated from the “A’ course at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in January, 1943, and from there entered the sophomore year at Cornell University in the school of Mechanical Engineering as the recipient of that year’s McMullan Scholarship. He was a member of the SAE fraternity (New York Alpha) while there. In December, 1943, he put his studies aside and enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Force. While undergoing flight training, Mr. Goldsborough received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated on June 3, 1947, taking his commission in the then newly created United States Air Force. His first post-graduation duty assignment was at headquarters, SAC, at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC. While stationed at Andrews he went to night school at the George Washington University School of Law, graduating May 30, 1950. Soon afterward, then Lieutenant Goldsborough was reassigned to the Japan/Korea theatre when that war began. He served for three years as staff Judge Advocate of the 374th troop carrier wing, was promoted to Captain and awarded the Bronze Star. On return to the States, then Captain Goldsborough resigned his regular commission and entered the private practice of law in Washington, DC. In 1961, Mr. Goldsborough moved his family, and his law practice, to, as he said, “commune with the spirits of my ancestors who have, since 1669, resided and practiced law on the Eastern Shore.” There, he and his then wife, the former Ruth Ann Craine, whom he had married at West Point, painstakingly restored “North Bend”, a part of the original manorial grant known as “Tilghman’s Fortune”. Founding partner of the local firm of Goldsborough, Franch & Collett, and of the Annapolis firm of Goldsborough & Franch, his career as a trial lawyer spanned 45 years. During that time, and until 1977, he continued to maintain his D.C. practice as well, and for 15 years a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the Evening Division of the George Washington University School of Law. Mr. Goldsborough was named Distinguished Graduate by the Law School in 1984. A member of the Maryland State Bar Association, he served a term as Chairman of its Litigation Section, and was appointed by Senator Mathias to chair his blue-ribbon committee advising on the creation of a Southern division of the United States District Court for Maryland. Surviving, in addition to his present wife, Juliana Elden, whom he married on March 15, 1979, are seven children of his first marriage, Barbara G. Taylor, of Murphy, NC, Cynthia A. Kenyon, Lt. Col. USAF (ret) of Niceville, FL, William J. Goldsborough of Easton, MD, Judith Goldsborough-Schnier, Esq., of Cold Spring Harbor, NY, Marie Louise Merrick, of Kensington, MD, Ann C. Goldsborough, of Aloha, OR and Nancy Jeanne Hurt, of Cambridge, VT. In addition there are sixteen surviving grandchildren. George and Julie Goldsborough have made their home on Peachblossom Creek in Talbot County, where, in their early years, Julie’s children, and Mr. Goldsborough’s stepchildren, Holly Thompson Christ and Ian Place Thompson, both of whom survive, lived with them. A graveside service for family will be held Saturday, December 15, 2001 at Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MD. Family and friends are invited to a reception on Saturday, December 15, 2001 to be held at the St. Michaels Harbor Inn, St. Michaels, MD from 2:00 until 4:00 PM. The family requests that memorial donations be made to either Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Dr., Easton, MD 21601 or the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 6 Herndon Ave., Annapolis, MD 21403. Arrangements are by Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton, MD.