George P. Elliott, 89, a retired member of Longwood University faculty, died Tuesday, October 11, 2015 in Farmville.

For a quarter century, from 1962 to 1987, he taught in Longwood’s College of Education. From the beginning he stood out from the rest. “What a guy!” one of his colleagues remembered, recalling the day Elliott strolled along the campus wearing a cape. A student walking behind him remarked “don’t you love it when the professors dress up?” There was seldom a time when Elliott was not dressed up, from his bow tie to his polished shoes. More important were the lessons he taught: how to teach. A former student, who spent decades as a high school teacher, thanked him when the two met again on campus a few years ago. “I’ll never forget him,” he said. “The lessons he taught helped me everyday.”

Elliott was an art collector, his apartment filled from floor to ceiling, with paintings, sculpture, and art objects. In recent months, as his health declined, he gave them away to family and friends, churches and Longwood.

He was the son of the late Martha and Edward Elliott and grew up in Burkeville where he attended school and made lifelong friends. A graduate of Burkeville High School and Randolph-Macon College, he served three years and in the US Air Force before enrolling at Longwood. One of its first male students, he received a master’s degree in 1966, and his sister, Doris Wilkinson.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Memorials may be given to the George P. Elliott scholarship at Longwood University.

Local arrangements by Puckett Funeral Home, Farmville. www.puckettfh.com