George Anthony Hough 3rd died Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Massachusetts General Hospital after surgery to repair a hip injured in a fall. He was 94 and lived in North Tisbury.

He was the nephew of Henry Beetle Hough, editor and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette, and son of George and Clara Hough, editor and publisher of the Falmouth Enterprise.

He attended The Lenox School in Lenox, worked summers as a reporter for the Falmouth Enterprise and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in journalism in 1943, where he became a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. Shortly after graduation, and two weeks after marrying Mary Lu, he received his commission in the Navy, serving aboard a land ship, tank. He earned a Navy and Marine medal for rescuing a soldier at sea.

After serving in the Navy, George was a reporter with the Detroit Free Press for five years. He and his wife became editor and publisher of the weekly Vernon County Censor in Viroqua, Wisc., from 1950 to 1955, where, without regard for his career, he wrote editorials about Sen. Joseph McCarthy. In 1955, he became managing editor of the Grant County Independent, in Lancaster, Wisc. In 1957 the family relocated to East Lansing, Mich., where George earned his master’s degree in general communication arts , followed by a Ph.D in linguistics, at Michigan State University. He continued his career as a professor of journalism, spending 22 years at Michigan State. In 1979, he became head of the news-editorial sequence at the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. He was appointed professor emeritus upon his retirement.

Dr. Hough received the Atrium Award, presented by the Grady School and AmericasMart in Atlanta, Ga., in 1991. He was the author of two books: Structures of Modification in Contemporary American English, published in 1971 and News Writing, published in 1975.

When he and his wife retired in 1990 to the Vineyard, George continued his life of gardening, reading and genealogy. He also continued his Uncle Henry’s legacy of preserving open space on Martha’s Vineyard, serving on the board of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. This culminated in the recent creation of the George A. Hough Preserve in North Tisbury.

He is remembered by his family as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and proud great-grandfather, who loved to tell entertaining stories about his travels around the world with his grandfather George Anthony Hough, known as Pat.

George’s grandson, Neil, flew from Albuquerque, N.M., to be with his grandfather just before he died. He wrote: “George had just recovered from hip surgery, a major medical intervention for anyone, let alone a 94-year old. I thought he was doing pretty well. We read the Sunday New York Times together. We talked about seeing each other again this coming Christmas season. George was many things — a war hero, a husband and father, but first and foremost, to me, he was my grandfather. I’ll always remember going fishing, camping, and making blueberry pancakes on the beach with him and diving off protruding rocks in the sounds while stepping over barnacles and looking off to the ever so far away but still visible, Elizabeth islands. I’ll always remember his skill as a gardener and the blue ribbons he won at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair for his garlic, tomatoes, and squash. Getting garlic for Christmas was the best. In return, when we asked what he wanted he would tell us manure. I don’t know that he ever got it for Christmas. George lives on, too. I’m working on my doctorate because of him. I never would have persisted without his example. I care about inequality, civic participation and community because of him. George would often say that you just have to keep plugging away. We will and we will always remember him. Thank you for everything, George.”

He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Mary Lu Hough; his daughter Mary Pat Hough-Greene; grandson Neil Greene and his wife Amy and great-grandson Harper; granddaughter Lydia and her husband Patrick Harmer and great-grandsons PJ (Patrick Jr.) and Declan.

A memorial service will be held in the future.