George, Eugene

Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1922, Eugene George served as a pilot in the Eighth Air Force. In 1944, the Germans captured him after his plane was shot down during the Kassel Mission, after which George spent almost a year in the Stalag Luft I prisoner of war camp. He was awarded the World War II Air Medal (2 oak clusters), Purple Heart, Normandy Campaign Medal, and three European battle stars.

Following the war, George earned a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from Harvard. He then spent his career as an architect working in private practice around the nation. Additionally, George was a leading preservation architect in Texas, working on numerous projects, notably The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas as well as the Willis-Moody House in Galveston.

In addition to his professional and preservation work, George had a notable academic career, chairing the Architecture Department at the University of Kansas, followed by being appointed Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Houston. He resigned his deanship in 1969, but returned to teaching at the University of Texas at Austin from 1975 and through 1997, when he inaugurated a new graduate program at the University of Texas at San Antonio.