
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993                   TAG: 9311110207
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EX-JUDGE G.B. COOLEY DIES AT 66

"A good country lawyer" who went on to become a good country judge and community leader died this week.

George B. Cooley, 66, served as 27th Judicial Circuit judge from 1978 until Cooley his retirement in 1992. He continued to serve as a substitute judge until his death Monday.

A product of a well-known Democratic family in Carroll County, Cooley was backed by state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, in his bid to assume the bench.

Marye, in a 1978 news article describing the candidate during the Democratic caucus, said Cooley was a Democrat "who has a rumpled suit with cigar ashes on his vest. He is a good country lawyer as strong as the mountains."

Radford Sheriff Bobby Farmer worked with Cooley for eight years.

"He's one of the finest judges I've ever known," Farmer said. "I can truly say we had a good working relationship."

Cooley, who twice ran for the Virginia General Assembly, practiced law in Hillsville from 1952 until 1978. Cooley received undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. today at the Hillsville Presbyterian Church.

by CNB