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Brigadier General
George V. Fagan
Permanent Professor 1962–1969
B.S., Temple University
M.A., Temple University
M.A., University of Denver
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
George Fagan, the Academy’s 11th Permanent Professor, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1917. He attended Temple University and was awarded his Bachelor’s degree in Education in 1940 and Master’s in History in 1941. That summer George enlisted in the Army Air Corps, was soon selected for officer training, and was commissioned in 1942. During World War II, he served in England in the quartermaster and supply field. After his active service he returned to Temple University and taught there until 1951, when he was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. From 1951 to 1954 George was assigned to the faculty of the United States Naval Academy. In 1954 he received his PhD in History from Penn, and was assigned to Maxwell AFB, AL, as Associate Editor of the Air University Press. Then in January 1955 he was sent to the Air Force Academy as an Associate Professor of History—one of the first members of the new faculty. George was appointed Director of the Academy Library in 1956, a position he held until his retirement in 1969. He played a significant role in securing the Academy’s academic accreditation for the first graduating class in 1959. While the Academy was still located in Denver, George earned his Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Denver in 1957. In 1962 he was appointed Permanent Professor of History. Although he was a Permanent Professor, George was never a department head; rather he maintained his position as Director of the Academy Library. His unique appointment reflected the importance of the Library to the early faculty leadership. During his administration, George oversaw the library’s holdings increase from 20,000 to over 350,000 volumes, while establishing specialized, professional libraries for every academic department. Among his innovations was creation of the Special Collections, housing the archival documents and photographs of the Academy’s development. He played a key role in the Academy’s acquisition of the Richard Gimbel aviation collection, one of the most comprehensive aviation archives in the world. He retired in 1969 and was promoted to brigadier general in 1993.
After his retirement in 1969, George Fagan became the Librarian of the Colorado College, a position he held until 1984. During this 15-year tenure at CC, he helped push the library into the computer age, establishing one of the first digital library networks in the state. Even after his second retirement, George continued his strong advocacy for libraries as centers of historical research. In 1987 he became the first treasurer of the non-profit group The Friends of the Air Force Academy Library and for many years helped provide financial and material support to the Academy Library, including supporting the acquisition of the Stalag Luft III collection of prisoner of war memorabilia. His book, An Illustrated History of the Air Force Academy (1988), remains the definitive work on the institution’s early days. George Fagan, one of the master builders of the Air Force Academy as an academic institution, passed away in 2012 and is buried in the Air Force Academy Cemetery.