In Loving Memory of George David Irwin

George David Irwin, an economist from a family of farmers, was born on December 16, 1935, in Beason, Illinois. He died August 21, 2025, in Pensacola, Florida, four months from his 90th birthday. George was the son of George Crawford Irwin and Olga Cecilia (Stoll) Irwin, and eldest brother to Robert, John, Jane, Maurice, Margaret, and Betty, and husband to Shiela Marie Bishop Irwin.

His career was distinguished by government service, beginning in 1957 with the US Department of Agriculture. That same year he earned a Master of Science in agricultural economics from Iowa State University and a PhD in agricultural finance in 1961 from the University of Illinois. He served 13 years in joint research appointments in Agricultural Economics departments at Michigan State, Purdue, and North Carolina State universities. He held the rank of Research Program Leader in the USDA and simultaneously the rank of Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue, and then Professor of Economics at North Carolina State University. In 1975 he began work at the Farm Credit Administration in Washington, D.C.

In his career in Washington, he served on many task forces and committees and for 23 years represented the FCA at the National Agricultural Credit System committee and the Washington Agricultural Roundtable. During the credit crisis of the 1980s he was responsible for credit risk monitoring and represented the Agency in testimony before congressional committees. He has a long list of professional publications and received the American Agricultural Economics Association award for outstanding public research. George held many distinguished positions at the FCA. He retired as Director, Office of Secondary Market Oversight.

He was a loving, loyal, generous, and steadfast husband and father, home gardener, and Boy Scout Webelo Den Leader among many other things. Throughout the 80s George was an active member of Providence Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Virginia. He enjoyed time in his wood workshop making furniture, and he also enjoyed a good crossword puzzle.

After his retirement in 1998, George and his wife Shiela returned to Illinois for some years, reconnecting with George’s roots. Later, they relocated to Middletown, Delaware, closer to their sons then living in New York City. In recent years George and Shiela had been residents of Azalea Trace, in Pensacola, Florida.

Not long after his passing, George’s beloved wife Shiela Marie Bishop Irwin passed away. They are both survived by their sons George Bruce, Keith Andrew, and Scott Charles, and by his brother John Irwin and sister Jane Irwin Jacobs, and by the children of his brothers and sisters.

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