George Sunbury, 70, a longtime educator whose work influenced countless students at Central High School’s (CHS) marketing and business education classes, died Friday.

Division Superintendent Charles Berkley said in a statement Friday that Sunbury taught with CHS for 49 years.

“Central High School is very saddened by the news of the departure of one of our staff members. Mr. George Sunbury was a cornerstone of Central High School,” Berkley said.

“Mr. Sunbury’s contributions to the students of Central High School cannot be measured,” Berkley said.

Sunbury’s death as a result of a house fire on 1521 9th St. early Friday morning was confirmed by Victoria Police Department Chief Keith Phillips Monday afternoon.

Berkley said in a news release that Sunbury was born on Oct. 20, 1947.

“George’s families are all deceased with the exception of some distant relatives,” Berkley said, “however he had a large adoptive family here in Lunenburg County from past and present school staff and students.”

He and an obituary from Staples Funeral Home in Victoria cited that Sunbury taught school in the Lunenburg County School system as a teacher of Business and Marketing, that he was an advisor to the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) program, a former CTE (Career and Technical Education) Director, and a long time football scout for the Central Chargers.

“George has been employed and been a part of the Central Charger Family since 1969,” Berkley said.

“An Action Plan has been developed which includes grief counselors on hand today at Central High School to talk our students and staff through this difficult time,” Berkley said.

Berkley said Sunbury has also been working with DECA for close to 50 years.

“He was scheduled to receive a DECA award at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta in April in recognition for serving for 45 years as a DECA advisor and he was very excited about that award,” Berkley said. “Mr. Sunbury was a teacher at CHS for 49 years and he was still teaching up until the time of his passing.”

“Please keep George Sunbury’s family, friends and school family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” Berkley said.

A funeral will be held for Sunbury at Central High School on Thursday at 7 p.m.

The obit cited that donations can be made to the Central High School Athletic Fund.