George C. Hering III

George Clark Hering, III, age 94, of Wilmington, Delaware (most recently Potomac Falls, Virginia) passed away on December 14, 2024. Known affectionately by his family and friends as “Kip,” “George,” “Dad,” “Daddy,” “GDaddy,” and “Granddaddy”, he was gregarious, family oriented, public-spirited, generous and a true gentleman!

George graduated from Tower Hill School (Wilmington, DE) in 1949 excelling as a three-sport captain (football, basketball and baseball) and Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) in 1953. After serving two years with the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps in Frankfort, Germany, he received his JD from Dickinson School of Law (Carlisle, PA). In 1959, George returned to Delaware to begin his law practice and joined what is now Morris, James LLP, which his father started in 1931. He retired in 2000, serving over 41 years as a highly regarded attorney.

In 1958, he married Margaret Fairfax Dashiell Flinn and soon after, the family expanded from two members to seven. Despite the challenges of raising five children and a busy career, George still managed to regularly join his wife, Fairfax, at his children and grandchildren’s numerous sporting events, including field hockey, lacrosse, squash, tennis, soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming, volleyball, gymnastics and figure skating. His family and extended family were extremely important to George.

Given his father’s active role in politics and his own service as a U.S. Senate Page as a teenager, George joined the Active Young Republicans of Wilmington and was named the city’s Outstanding “Young Man of the Year” by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1965. George was elected to the Delaware General Assembly’s House of Representatives in 1966 and immediately appointed Speaker of the House. He served two additional terms from 1968-72. He continued to be actively involved in multiple local, state and national Republican political campaigns and was also an alternate delegate for six Republican National Conventions.

George was committed to public service and involved in many organizations dear to him, including Dickinson College, Tower Hill School, Trinity Episcopal Parish, the John Dickinson Mansion, and the Biggs Museum of American Art. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation and was instrumental in raising the funds to build the Kalmar Nyckel, Delaware’s Tall Ship (1997) which still sails today.

George was preceded in death by his parents, George C. Hering, Jr. and Helen Hering Kennedy, his wife, Margaret Fairfax Dashiell Flinn Hering, and his sisters, Betsy Gardner and Jane Kennedy. He is survived and will be greatly missed by his five children: Heather Brown (Douglas), Tewksbury, NJ; Susan Foster-Gager (Joe), Wilmington, DE; Marnie Harrison-Kramer (Randy), Glen Allen, VA; G. Clark Hering, IV (Beverly), Greensboro, NC, and Laura Leigh (Benjamin), Leesburg, VA and his twelve grandchildren: Trevor, Randall (Nicolette), Terence, Craig, Lindsay, Corbin, Camden, Clayton, Tanner, Flinn, Nathaniel and Sarah. He is also survived by his brother, Grant Hering, Mamaroneck, NY.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 18, 2025, 10:30 AM at Trinity Episcopal Parish (1108 N. Adams St., Wilmington, DE). Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in memory of George C. Hering, III to:  Dickinson College Scholarship Fund, Tower Hill School Scholarship Fund or the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.