In Memoriam: Glenn Oswald Thornhill Jr. ’63, P’02, Trustee Emeritus Thornhill served on the Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2005.
Glenn Oswald Thornhill Jr. ’63, P’02, trustee emeritus of Washington and Lee University, died Sept. 10, 2026. He was 85.
Thornhill was born on March 30, 1941, in Roanoke, Virginia, to Glenn O. Thornhill and Mary Fogg Thornhill. He and his siblings grew up in Salem, Virginia, where he attended Andrew Lewis High School. He enrolled at Washington and Lee in the fall of 1959 as a member of the Class of 1963. He played lacrosse for the Generals and belonged to Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
In 1965, he returned to Salem to join Maid Bess, an apparel manufacturing company his father founded in 1936 that made lightweight commercial uniforms. Thornhill worked at the company during his teenage years, and by the time he returned after college, the company had several factories across Southwest Virginia and North Carolina and 2,000 employees. Thornhill started as plant manager in Salem, and, in 1974, he became president and CEO.
Thornhill joined the Board of Trustees in 1996 and served until 2005, at which time he became an emeritus member. He was a member of the Williams School Advisory Board from 1989 to 1995, and he was co-chair of the Area Campaign Committee and a member of the Corporations and Foundations Committee for the On the Shoulders of Giants capital campaign. Additionally, he was a member of the Commission on the 250th Observance, the Area Campaign Committee for the For the Rising Generation capital campaign, and the George Washington Society. He became an honorary member of Omicron Delta Kappa in 1991 and received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1994. In 2006, W&L recognized him and his wife, Joanne B. Thornhill, on the Honored Benefactors Wall.
As he gave back to W&L, Thornhill also dedicated much time and philanthropy to his hometown. One of many volunteer roles, he served as chairman of United Way of the Roanoke Valley and received the Roanoke Valley’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award, which United Way of America created in 1972 to recognize individuals who have contributed outstanding service on both the national and local levels.
Thornhill was preceded in death by his parents, Glenn O. Thornhill and Mary Fogg Thornhill; his sister, Joyce Whiddon Bruns; his sons, Wyatt Nelson Thornhill and Brian Hamilton Thornhill; and his daughter, Alyssa Chilton Thornhill.
He is survived by his wife, Joanne Bailey Thornhill; his sisters, Mary Alice Bodenhorst (Jeoff) and Mona Armistead (Bob); his daughters, Christine Hall Thornhill (Sean Hyde) and Kelly Thornhill Farber (Corley); his sons, G.O. Thornhill III (Kris) and David Thomas Thornhill ’02 (Astrid); and grandchildren, Hunter, Olivia, Oliver, Ben, Lolly, John and Lucas.
Thornhill’s full obituary was published on Legacy.com.
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