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George C. Shafer, Jr. educator and volunteer, died at Beaumont Retirement Home in Bryn Mawr, PA, on April 5, 2016. He was 86 years of age. Mr. Shafer was born in Philadelphia in 1929. He graduated from The Lawrenceville School, Princeton University, and received a Masters degree in History from Columbia University in 1952. He was a teacher and coach at The Episcopal Academy in Merion, PA for 43 years, and co-owner/director of The Susquehannock Camps in Brackney and Friendsville, PA for 41 years, spending every summer of his life at the camp founded by his father in 1905. Mr. Shafer was a lifelong educator who served thousands of volunteer hours in the fields of tennis, youth camping, church, school, and his university. He held numerous positions in the tennis world. He was the varsity tennis coach at Episcopal for 41 years where his teams won 20 Inter-Academic League championships. His volunteerism included: coach of the Philadelphia Gold Cup tennis program where he taught advanced junior players for many years; board member of the National Junior Tennis League and teacher in that program for many years; Board of The Philadelphia Indoor Tennis Corporation and Operations Chairman of the US Pro Indoor Tennis Tournament for 19 years. While on the Board of the Philadelphia Tennis Association he ran a number of Tennis Teacher Workshops for the Middle States Tennis Association and while serving on the Tennis committee at the Merion Cricket Club, he ran the Junior Development program for promising teen-age members. He taught tennis for half a century to players of all ages at Camp Susquehannock and also played in many local tournaments in the Delaware Valley, Binghamton, NY, and in Montrose, PA, winning a number of titles in both singles and doubles. Mr. Shafer was awarded the Coren Cup for exceptional service to tennis in the Delaware Valley Besides tennis, Mr. Shafer also began the swimming program at Episcopal Academy. Within a few years his boys’ team won three championships -- the only Inter-Ac League championships that the boys swimming team has won to date. He was particularly proud that his 1969 swim team had six All-American swimmers in five events (top ten times nationally), established 35 records (national, pool, school, and meet) in one season and this team was inducted into the Episcopal Academy Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. He coached junior football teams each fall and had several undefeated seasons and unofficial championships. He was inducted into the Episcopal Academy Athletic Hall of Fame in its inaugural year as the coach whose teams won the most championships during a career at the Academy. Long active in the accreditation program of The American Camp Association, he was elected president of the Keystone Regional Section, and was instrumental in pulling the ACA sections of Pennsylvania together to form the ACA Keystone Section, which included all of PA, DE, and western NJ. He was cited by the A.C.A. for exceptional service to camping. As co-owner and director of Camp Susquehannock for Boys with his brother Edwin, he worked tirelessly to ensure that decades of campers had enriching experiences. In 1986, he and his wife Dede opened a sister camp, Camp Susquehannock for Girls at Lake Choconut in Friendsville, PA. When he retired from the directorship of The Susquehannock Camps in 2000, he became a member of the Board of The College Settlement Camps in Horsham, Pa, which has served economically disadvantaged children from the Greater Philadelphia area for nearly a century. Mr. Shafer served on the Finance, Personnel, and Fund Development Committees devoting countless hours to this fine charity organization which he believed makes a life-changing difference for over 800 campers each summer. An active member of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church for over 60 years, he taught Sunday school and the Confirmation class for about twenty years. As a Deacon, he served as Chair of the General Services Committee and as an Elder he chaired the Youth Ministry Council. An active member of the Executive Committee and vice-president of his Princeton Class of 1951, Mr. Shafer chaired record-breaking 45th and 50th class reunions. Mr. Shafer was honored to have been recognized for his thousands of hours of volunteering on behalf of youth by the Bishop William White award presented to him by The Episcopal Academy for a “Member of the Faculty who has made educational contributions far beyond the confines of the classroom and subject.” He was a past Governor of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, a member of the Netherlands Society, Merion Cricket Club, Princeton Charter Club, the Princeton Club of Philadelphia and a member of the board of the Montrose Golf and Tennis Club in Susquehanna County, PA. In the Korean War era, Mr. Shafer served in the 307th Field Artillery Battalion as a non-commissioned officer. At the time of his discharge after seven years reserve service, he was Battalion Sgt. Major. Mr. Shafer is survived by his wife, Louise Sayre Hoopes (“Dede”), and four children, G. Carlton Shafer III (Cindy) of Lancaster, PA; Catherine Cockerill (Jim) of Thornton, PA; Priscilla Dana (John) of Boulder, CO; and Elizabeth Nagy (Rob) of Lawrenceville, NJ, and seven grandchildren, Jessica and Amy Cockerill, George and James Shafer, Nathan and Henry Dana and Charlotte Nagy. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 16 at 4pm at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. Burial will be in the family plot in Montrose, PA, at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, it is requested that contributions be sent to The Camp Susquehannock Scholarship Fund, 2308 Tripp Lake Road, Brackney, PA 18812; The College Settlement Camp of Philadelphia, 600 Witmer Road, Horsham, PA, 19044, or The Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Foundation, 625 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010.

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George Carlton Shafer, Jr.

December 22, 1929 - April 5, 2016