George Mercer Brooke, Jr., 91, of Lexington, died Friday, June 16, 2006.

He was born October 21, 1914 in Tokyo, Japan, son of the late Colonel George Mercer Brooke, USA, and Isabel Tilton Brooke. Following his father's retirement from the Army in 1928, the family moved to Lexington.

Beginning a long involvement with the Boy Scouts, he became one of the first to be awarded the Eagle Scout rank in Rockbridge County.

He graduated from Lexington High School and then in 1936, from the Virginia Military Institute. He began teaching history at VMI in 1942 and, except for a period of military service during World War II, subsequently taught there until his retirement in 1980.

He received his M.A. in history from Washington and Lee University in 1942 and his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1955.

Following his retirement from VMI, he published four books, including a biography of his grandfather, the naval scientist and educator, John Mercer Brooke, and a history of R. E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington, of which he had been a member and had served on the vestry since the 1920s.

He was also deeply involved in volunteer work, serving as president of the Stonewall Jackson Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and Scouting Coordinator for Pack 29 in Lexington, work for which he received the Silver Beaver Award in 1989 in recognition as the Outstanding Scouter in the southern District.

He served in numerous senior leadership positions in the American Cancer society as well as being on the Board of Directors and president of the Rockbridge Unit of the Society, as president and a founding member of the Rockbridge Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, as president of the Rockbridge Historical Society, the Ruth McCullough Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Lexington Branch of the English Speaking Union, and as chairman of the VMI Sesquicentennial Committee. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Mayflower society, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Frances; a son, Colonel George Mercer Brooke III, USMC (Ret.), and his wife, Jane, of Lexington; a daughter, Marion Brooke Philpott and her husband, Robert, of Charlotte, NC; five grandchildren: Catherine Hylton and her husband, Stuart, of Purcellville, VA; George Mercer Brooke, IV, and his wife, Erika, of Lexington; Cyrus Hundley Philpott and his wife, Carrie, of Atlanta, GA; John Brooke Philpott and Stephen Moyer Philpott of Charlotte, NC; and four great grandchildren. Funeral services were held at noon on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at the R. E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington. In lieu of flowers, memorials should be sent to either the Stonewall Jackson Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, 801 Hopeman Parkway, P. O. Box 813, Waynesboro, VA 22980 or to the Cancer Society of America, Suite 106-A, 2840 Electric Road, Roanoke, VA 24018.