George Mushrush Ph.D.

So sad to hear of his passing - he was an amazing professor who taught me organic chemistry and even allowed me to do a publication with him.

I opened my copy of Mason Spirit magazine for fall 2019 and my eyes saw what my heart was dreading. I read of Dr. Mushrush's passing.

I was one of Dr. Mushrush's Master's Degree students. I remember the day that I met him. My Agency was sponsoring a program that would pay the tuition for Laboratory personnel to work toward an advanced degree in the sciences at George Mason University. It was fall of 1998 and I had to find an adviser, who would accept the research that I was performing...

We just heard about George's passing. So, sorry to hear about the world losing a great guy!

We were neighbors of George & Sally's in Oakton, VA. He was always working on something in his garage; mostly building additions to his train set in the basement! He usually had a cigar hanging from his mouth too.

Sorry, we never made it out to FL to visit them after their move.

Our sympathies to the family.

No story of George's love of offbeat ways to apply chemistry would be complete without mention of his foray into the field of Spud Projectile Dynamics. We were visiting him one evening at his farm, with he and I on one side of a small pond and our wives sitting on the opposite side gradually fading from view as dusk approached. He produced a homemade potato gun made of PVC pipe, jammed a spud into the muzzle and opened the breach to receive the propellent. He was at the time experimenting...

I remember George for his infectious smile, boundless enthusiasm, extraordinary teaching and connecting to students, and abundant generosity. For ever so many of us, he made this world a better place and we are thankful.