George B. Holmes, longtime CIA employee, dies at 88

George B. Holmes, 88, who spent 32 years in the CIA’s directorate of operations before retiring in 1981, died Feb. 1 at the Ingleside at Rock Creek retirement community in Washington. He had Alzheimer’s disease and pneumonia.

The death was confirmed by his daughter Sarah Holmes.

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

Personal Post

Mr. Holmes served in Belgium, Sweden, England and Cameroon and on the Mediterranean island of Malta. He was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal.

George Burgwin Holmes, a Pittsburgh native, simultaneously entered Yale University and the Navy’s officer training program in 1942. He graduated in 1947 as a member of the Yale Class of 1945W, composed of students whose education had been interrupted by military service during World War II.

He spent a year studying French at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland before joining the CIA in 1949.

In 1950, Mr. Holmes co-founded the Augmented 8, a men’s a cappella group in the Washington area.

He was a past chairman of the Friends of Music program at the Smithsonian Institution; a past chairman of the Washington Revels musical group; past board member of Hospices of the National Capital Region (now Capital Caring); and a past president of the Yale Club of Washington. His other memberships included the Chevy Chase Club and the Metropolitan Club.

Mr. Holmes was a docent at the Washington National Cathedral and vice chairman of the National Cathedral Association, which raises funds and promotes the cathedral.

His avocations included sailing. He moved to Ingleside from his home in the District about three years ago.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Nancy Trowbridge Holmes of Washington; three children, Brock Holmes of Chevy Chase, Katharine Caldwell of Severna Park and Sarah Holmes of Bethesda; and four grandchildren.

— Adam Bernstein