Retired Auto Dealer George Gossom Dies Submitted by N.O.V.A. July 2005 Times Picayune 02-21-1997 ************************************************* Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ George H. Gossom, a retired auto dealer and former chairman of the New Orleans Aviation Board, died Wednesday of leukemia at Memorial Medical Center. He was 80. Mr. Gossom was born in Greenwood, Miss., and lived in New Orleans for the past 71 years. He was the owner of Gossom Motors, Metairie's first Volkswagen dealership, from 1965 to 1978. He also worked for Metropolitan Health Services from 1982 to 1995. He was on the Aviation Board from 1963 to 1973 and was chairman from 1967 to 1970. Mr. Gossom was a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He was in the Army Air Corps during World War II, flying 88 combat missions in the South Pacific. He was awarded the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart. He also was in the Air Force during the Korean War. He was a member of the Louisiana Air National Guard from 1947 until 1973, rising to the post of deputy chief of staff. He received the Louisiana Distinguished Service Medal and the Louisiana War Cross. He was a member of the National Guard associations of the United States and Louisiana and the 122nd Bomb Squadron Retirees Association. He was a former president of the Greater New Orleans Automobile Dealers Association, a former member of the Louisiana and national automobile dealers associations, and a founding board member of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, which awarded him its lifetime achievement award in 1995. Survivors include his wife, Betty Manning Gossom; a daughter, Betty Marie Gossom Fuller; and a brother, Ernest I. "Buddy" Gossom Jr. A funeral with full military honors will he held today at 1 p.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Lake Lawn Park Cemetery.