George Braxton Mitchell, 86, peacefully passed on April 27, 2024, at a life care community in Bethesda, MD. He died of heart failure.
Born August 26, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, George was raised on the south shore of Long Island in Woodmere and Hewlett. The son of a prominent tea expert, George F. Mitchell and Lily Wallace Mitchell, George was predeceased by his half-sister, Nell Rose Mitchell Heiss. He leaves his devoted wife of 58 years, Lynne Nesbitt Mitchell; three children Suzanne, Douglas (Berret) and Carter (Katie), and four cherished grandchildren Marin, Sasha, Connor and Lauren.
George attended St. Andrew's School in Middletown, DE where his fascination with the sciences was nurtured. A graduate of the University of Virginia in electrical engineering, he continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania earning a MSEE. A US Air Force ROTC graduate, George entered the Air Force in 1960 and was sent to the National Security Agency at Ft. Meade becoming a civilian after three years. There he was placed in charge of major Communication Security Production programs. Selected in 1975 to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), now part of the National Defense University at Ft. McNair, George earned a MS in Government Administration and National Security Affairs from George Washington University. He was then assigned as Communications Security Advisor to the general leading the development of the military's next generation of tactical communications systems at Fort Monmouth, NJ. Returning to NSA in 1979 as an Office Chief in the Research and Development Organization, he had major program responsibility for developing future security technologies. George moved to the National Computer Security Center where on contract the first internet security cryptographic systems were developed. During that assignment for two years, he co-hosted the NSA/NIST (National Institute for Science and Technology) National Security Conference. His final job was as Director of Infosec Integration. Retiring from NSA in 1995, George continued consulting for an additional ten years, primarily with Windemere, LLC.
As residents of Chevy Chase, Maryland for 52 years, with a lifelong love of sailing and the water, George and his wife built a home in Oxford, MD where they continued to enjoy the pleasures of sailing. A member of Holy Trinity Church, Oxford, he served as Junior Warden and continued to be involved with facility and grounds long after his term. As a boy George attended Camp Greenbrier for Boys and later the family spent years enjoying family camp. Twice, after the campgrounds flooded, he volunteered helping rebuild the camp using his electrical skills to rewire several buildings. Other affiliations include the Society of the Cincinnati (Virginia), the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Chevy Chase Club. He was a long-time member of the Phoenix Society and the National Cryptologic Foundation.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, July 20 at 11 a.m. at St. John's Norwood Parish, 6701 Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Camp Greenbrier Scholarship Fund, 100 Camp Greenbrier Drive, Alderson, WV 24910.
