Our History: Featured Alumni/ae: Cochran, George M., 1936

Judge, Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals

George Moffett Cochran was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1912. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1934 from the University of Virginia, and his LL. B. in 1936 from the University of Virginia School of Law. At UVA, he was a member of the Z Society and resided on The Lawn. After law school, he served in the Pacific during World War II. He was a founder of the firm of Cochran, Lotz and Black and was also president of Planters Bank and Trust Co. in Staunton from 1947 to 1969. Cochran became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1948 to 1965, and was in the Senate of Virginia from 1966 to 1967. He was president of the Virginia Bar Association and a member of the Virginia Commission for Constitutional Revision in 1968-69. In August 1969, he was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals. He retired from active service on the Court in 1987 but continued to sit as a retired Justice for many years. He died at his home in Staunton in January 2011 at the age of 98.