After Taps

He formerly served on the VMI Board of Visitors. He earned a both Bachelor of Science degree and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia.

He is survived by his wife, Sybil Vandenburg Berkley, and brother, John McCoy Berkley (Joanne Saunders Berkley).

He was preceded in death by his sister, Colonna Berkley, and brother-in-law, Robert Drew Harrison.

Louis H. Blair

Louis H. Blair of Rockbridge Baths, Virginia, died Sept. 5, 2020. He was 81.

He previously taught at VMI and held degrees from the University of Virginia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Blair; daughter, Kate Blair; and son-in-law, John Holmes.

Grover O. Craven

Retired U.S. Army Col. Grover O. “Sonny” Craven of The Villages, Florida, died Aug. 2, 2020. He was 76.

He was formerly the director of the VMI Office of Communications and Marketing.

He is survived by his wife, Sara Harlene; son, Scott (Elizabeth); and grandchildren, Jessica and Olivia.

George Piegari (Hon.)

Col. George Piegari (Hon.), Ph.D., of Lexington, Virginia, died Oct. 4, 2020. He was 79. (Editor’s Note: An extended obituary for Col. Piegari (Hon.) appears in the In Memory section of this issue.)

Boyce D. Tate

Boyce D. Tate of Hardinsburg, Kentucky, died Aug. 18, 2020. He was 92. He formerly taught engineering at VMI.

He is survived by his children, Boyce D. Tate Jr., Stephen R. Tate, Sara Lynn Saxton, Emily A. Taylor, and Amy Lou Tate-Williams; grandchildren, Jason Tate, Jordan Tate, Keith Tate, Lee Taylor, Brooks Taylor, Jeremiah Medley, Tate Williams, Bess Contreras, Valerie Jones, Amie Medley, and Caroline Tate; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Lyon G. Tyler Jr.

Col. Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. of Franklin, Tennessee, died Sept. 26, 2020. He was 95.

He was formerly part of the faculty at VMI.

He is survived by his daughter, Susan Selina Pope Tyler; and brother, Harrison Ruffin Tyler.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Lucy Jane Pope Tyler.

After Taps

Augustus Robbins III ’47

By Mark Bryant ’77

Augustus “Gus” Robbins III ’47 grew up in Hopewell, Virginia, and matriculated at VMI in 1943. After one year, he enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After the war, he returned to VMI and graduated as a member of the Class of 1947 with a degree in civil engineering.

He moved to Baltimore, Maryland, working for ESSO and Drummond & Co. before starting his own company, Ratrie, Robbins & Schweizer, which became a leading road construction and asphalt paving company in the Maryland area. He was chairman of the board and executive vice president until he retired in the 1980s.

He was active in church and civic and VMI affairs, as he and wife, Jane, raised their family in Baltimore. He was a member of the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore; the VMI Foundation’s Institute Society; the Boy Scouts of America Baltimore Council (receiver of the Silver Beaver award for outstanding service); the Virginians of Maryland (receiving the Medallion of Honor as Illustrious Virginian); and numerous trade organizations.

After moving to Virginia with Betty Lane in the early 2000s, Gus was active in Merchants Hope Church Foundation, serving as president for 10 years. He also served on the Board of Historic Hopewell Foundation. His other membership included the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Virginia Historical Society. He was an active member of the Institute Society as well as the VMI Alumni Association, serving as class agent for more than 10 years. While his son, Gus IV ’77, was at VMI, Gus III was a huge supporter of all the BRs in the Class of 1977.

Col. William D. Badgett ’53

By John C. McLemore ’70

Many years ago as I was walking out of the theater in which my wife and I had just seen Dead Poets Society, I made a pact with myself to identify the five most important teachers in my life and contact them to let them know just how special they were.

Col. Bill Badgett was at the top of the list, and I’m proud to say we had kept up. Just as the obituary describes, I visited him each time I returned to Lexington. I married a Virginia girl, and as our children were growing up, we spent alternate Christmases with her family. When our son was five, I started taking him with me to the Institute and an hour or so with Col. Badgett in that booklined study. Will and Col. Badgett became friends. He was an occasional topic of conversation as I drove Will to school and other events. He was instrumental in our son’s choice of college. Is this heresy? It was not VMI.

He was a wonderful man, a magnificent teacher, and a very good friend.

John A. Horgan ’60

By J. Bolling Williamson ’60

After completing his medical training and serving two years in the Army, Jack moved to Newport News, Virginia, in 1971 where he established the Division of Cardiology at Riverside Hospital. Under his leadership, the program expanded its capabilities, and Jack was responsible for recruiting many of the cardiologists on the staff.

“For many of us, he was a role model and mentor,” noted one of his colleagues. “His vision and leadership allowed our practice to grow into what it is today ... he is one of the most important and influential physicians we have had here at Riverside.”

Following his retirement in 2001, Jack became a “Renaissance man” in many respects. Adventure travel and trekking in remote places included hiking the Mount Everest trail and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He enjoyed cycling, ran a Boston Marathon, and his love of skiing led him and Nancy to become part-time residents of Colorado for many years, where he climbed numerous 14,000-foot peaks in the offseason.

He developed a taste for French cuisine while traveling in France and took French classes so that he could understand the menus. He even spent a week with a French baker to learn about baking croissants, but when he returned home, he found he couldn’t scale down the proportions from store quantity to just a couple for Nancy and himself.

Like many smart and professionally accomplished people who operate on a plane above the rest of us, Jack could be stymied by mundane household chores. In the course of installing a hook in the garage ceiling for storing his bike, he inadvertently drilled through a water line and thereafter was prohibited from touching any more ceilings. When a wallmounted TV which he had installed and connected suddenly wouldn’t turn on, a repairman was called. He asked who had installed it with three remotes—he removed three bundles of connections to nowhere and used one remote.

And there was attending to the aged family cat when the vet advised that it needed to be put down. Rather than paying the vet for such a basic procedure, Dr. Jack Horgan, M.D., gave the cat a can of food laced with enough Valium for a 200-pound man and, after paying his final respects to the pet, closed the garage door. Sometime later, he returned to check on things, only to find the cat slinking rather unsteadily across the floor. The cat recovered nicely, and the vet told Jack that Valium served as an appetite stimulant for cats: “Eight more lives to go.”

Jack was one of those good-natured and well-rounded men who excelled in all aspects of life at VMI. He was very appreciative of the opportunities that the Institute afforded him, and in that spirit he established the John A. Horgan ’60 Pre-Medicine Scholarship Fund to grant awards to rising 1st Class cadets who commit to continuing their medical education at a school within Virginia. He established another at the University of Virginia Medical School.

Jack personified the type of alumnus that the school strives to produce—one who leverages his VMI experience to achieve professional excellence, then gives back to help others do the same. He was a good brother rat, and we’ll miss him.