George Young, hailing from generations of Fort Lauderdale pioneers, dies at 86

George Young, whose family spans three generations of prominent Fort Lauderdale pioneers, died Monday. He was 86.

Family and friends remember Young as a benevolent man content with helping others, dipping into his own pocket to get financially struggling students through college. Among his accomplishments was serving as vice president of student affairs at Broward College.

Young’s mother was Virginia Shuman Young, the first female mayor of Fort Lauderdale who moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1926 from Virginia, who died in 1994.

She recruited women to serve on city advisory boards, and advocated for historical preservation of the city’s downtown buildings. A school in Fort Lauderdale, Virginia S. Young Elementary School, bears her name.

Young’s father was George F. Young, a general contractor, and first chairman of the Broward County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

His grandfather, George Waugh Young, also was a general contractor and established George Young Construction in 1911 and built residential and commercial projects, according to his Young’s daughter, Jenifer Young Pfleger.

Young’s grandfather, Virginia Shuman Young’s father, was pioneer Irving G. Shuman, who served on the School Board and Port Everglades’ first harbor pilot.

And Virginia Young’s grandfather was DeWitt TenBrook, a police chief in the city’s earliest days. She first visited Fort Lauderdale in 1921 on a trip to see her grandfather.

George William Young was born in Jan. 21, 1938, at the brand-new Broward General Hospital.

George Young graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School in 1955, and pursued three psychology degrees at Florida State University. “He remained a loyal FSU football fan his entire life, even though he married a Florida Gator,” Pfleger said.

His wife, Dawn Wilson Young, his high school sweetheart, predeceased him in 2018.

For 30 years, from 1969-1996, Young served as the vice president of student affairs at Broward College. Pfleger said her family believed everyone was entitled to a college education and mentored students.

Barbara Bryan, the president of Broward College, said Young was “good and decent.”

“Dr. Young loved Broward College, that was demonstrated through his work, his kindness to the employees who he treated as family,” she said. “He would buy students’ books and never say a word, pay for tuition, put gas in cars, he did that out of his own pocket. He was a champion for me and my career. He was a person who treated everybody with dignity and respect.”

“He knew that buying one book, or one meal, or paying for one course could change the trajectory of someone’s life and (create) upward mobility for generations to come. And he knew it,” she said.

“He was a men among men,” Bryan said. “He was in generous in deed, and in words, and in mentorship. I would not be the president of Broward College right now if I had not been somebody he took under his wing and mentored and shepherd through that institution.”

Said his daughter: “He was a humble guy, he never bragged about his family, ever,” she said. “Family came first, and then education and his students.”

In addition to his daughter, Pfleger, of Coral Gables, he is survived by son George Wilson Young, of Pompano Beach; and three grandchildren.

Services will be 10 a.m. March 19 at First United Methodist Church, 101 SE Third Ave., in Fort Lauderdale.

Instead of flowers, the family requests donations to the “Hardee Center George Young Fellowship in Higher Education” at Florida State University, a fellowship Young founded.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash