Ralph Hallam George

Ralph was born on April 17, 1955, in Ironton, Ohio, to Ralph Curtis George and Betty McGugin George. He was a graduate of Santa Fe High School in Lakeland, Florida and received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute in 1977. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army upon graduation. After completing many years of active and reserve duty, Ranger qualified, as a Field Artillery Officer and obtaining the rank of Captain, Ralph retired to form the first of two prominent steel fabrication construction companies in Sarasota, Florida, where he resided the last 38 years of his life.

Ralph had a passion for his family, the Virginia Military Institute, his Brother Rats and his many friends and sports. He loved the game of golf, wherein he combined a wicked but woefully unreliable drive with his gift for story telling (winning many games by convulsing his more talented partners) and an infectious smile and attitude. He only rarely hurled a club.

Ralph was an aggressive, physical athlete who played Division 1 college football with reckless abandon and at the highest level. He and his teammates led the ever powerhouse VMI Keydet football team to the Southern Conference Championship title two years running. During his senior year, he was offered a tryout as a wide receiver with an NFL team which, sadly, believed Ralph’s speed to be the only second-rate thing about him. He was an avid music lover and dancer, a dedicated and active VMI alumnus, and a tormented but faithful Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan.

Ralph was renowned for his integrity, humor, leadership, loyalty and compassionate spirit. His talents and achievements are too numerous to list. As a young man, Ralph was asked to summarize his life to date and his hopes for the future: “Most important, I have found all my weaknesses the past four years. It depends on my strength if I can become the man I seek to be. I love my family, respect many of my friends, and be patient because I am still growing.”

Ralph became the man he envisioned, and so much more. In his richly lived and celebrated life, tragically more brief than his devoted sisters, family and legion of friends can accept, he became a lodestone of support, enthusiasm and joy. Our loss is incalculable.

Ralph was preceded in death by his mother and father. He is survived by his three sisters, Gerri Willett and Jane Wilkins, both of Tampa, FL and Susan Sharp of Rising Fawn, GA; his girlfriend, Mary Dworkin; 5 nieces and 2 nephews and by his beloved, gorgeous and goofy Labrador, Bacon.

Military Honors will be held on Friday, September 7, 2018 at 11:30 A.M. at Sarasota National Cemetery, 9810 State Rd. 72, Sarasota, FL 34241. A memorial service will follow on September 8, 2018 at 11 A.M. at Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Rd., Sarasota, FL 34239.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org. or Ralph George Super 77 VMI Fund, P.O. Box 932 Lexington, VA 24450, in Ralph’s memory.