George William Longenecker, age 85, of Morgantown, passed away on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, while vacationing at his family cottage near Mazomanie, Wis.
George was born on Nov. 25, 1937, in Madison, Wis., son of the late G. William “Bill” Longenecker and Sarah (Stebbins) Longenecker.
He received a BA in landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. From 1962-64 he served as 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Ft. Benning, Ga. From 1964-66 he served as asst. director of Tyler Arboretum in Media, Pa. In 1966, he was hired as one of the first faculty members of the Landscape Architecture program at West Virginia University, a program which he helped develop. After 39 years of teaching, he retired in 2006 and shortly after was granted Professor Emeritus status at WVU.
In 1983 George led a grassroots campaign to organize what is known today as the West Virginia Botanic Garden. He was named its first Executive Director in 1990, remaining in that role until 2016 when he was honored as Life Director of the WVBG Board and given a key to the City of Morgantown.
He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Caryol (Magnussen) Longenecker; three daughters and sons-in-law, Karin and Eric Crawford of Scottsdale, Ariz., Sara and Jim Meyer of Kandern, Germany, and Heather and Tim St. Clair of Baltimore, Md.; three grandsons, Joshua Armin Meyer, Grady William and Maxwell Lee St. Clair.
Friends and family will gather on Friday, Oct. 27 for an open house at the WV Botanic Garden from 3-7 p.m. A memorial service celebrating his life will be on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. at Wesley UMC, 503 N. High St., in Morgantown with a lunch reception following. The service will also be streamed online.
Memorial gifts can be given in George’s honor to the WV Botanic Garden: https://www.wvbg.org/tributes-and-memorials/ or to Wesley UMC.
Please visit the website containing George’s full obituary, photo gallery, RSVP link, and a memory wall to share your condolences & memories: https://bit.ly/GWLwebsite
