George T. Corcoran, 78, of Sebastian Florida since 1990 and formerly of Rhinebeck and Saugerties, New York, died Friday, July 6 at Sebastian Hospital after a brief illness.

George was my father and my spiritual son. Many Unificationists made friends with him during his years of service at UTS during the 1980’s. He eventually sold his home to UTS and it still remains the Saugerties Church Center.

George first heard the Divine Principle while attending a CARP parents’ workshop in Snowmass, Colorado in the spring of 1982. He hated flying in commercial airplanes - even though he was a B-17 pilot during WWII—yet he flew from New York to Colorado that spring to investigate what exactly his son had become involved with. Soon after arriving, I could see his spirit resurrect and he began exclaiming what a bright bunch of young people were gathered there! Since he taught at the local community college, he was used to mixing with young Americans, and he could see something uniquely good among the workshop participants.

I remember when I introduced him to Mr. Matsuzaki and how well they hit it off. Never one to withhold his opinion, my father began witnessing to other parents at the workshop about the genuineness and high quality of the members. When I explained to him, with some trepidation, about the matching, he quipped, "It sure beats the bar scene."

Since he lived just a few miles from UTS, he would ride his motorcycle there in the morning and work with John Kayadu and others on the physical plant and the grounds. He was especially challenged when overseeing teams of Japanese and Korean brothers who always politely smiled and shook their heads yes when in reality they hadn’t a clue as to the direction he had just given them.

David S.C. Kim, then president of UTS, was always extremely kind to my father. He came to rely on my father’s wisdom and management expertise and eventually made him a member of his UTS cabinet.

My father often told the story that one of the saddest days of his life was when a certain UTS class boarded buses after graduating and departed for the mission field. He stood there in the traffic circle at UTS, tears in his eyes, knowing that he would probably never again see the many students he had become so close to. He was right.

During the early 1990s, I went to Russia twice to support the mission there. I traveled to remote places in Siberia and the Crimea and many times when I met a church member who I didn’t know, upon learning my name they would say, "Oh, you must be George’s son." I am, and I’m also his proud spiritual father.

He is survived by my mother Mary. They received the Blessing in 1997.

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