Major General Max Guggenheimer, Jr. died on May 27, 2026, at Westminster Canterbury in Lynchburg, VA. After an evening with his children and their spouses, with a fierce thunderstorm followed by a sky clearing to a sunset with a double rainbow out his window, he passed peacefully in the presence of his brother, Charlie Guggenheimer.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by his wife, Dorothy Overbeck Guggenheimer; his daughter, Dorothy Bridger (Dickson); his sons, Max III (Jessica), and John Capron (Maggie); as well as his grandchildren, Butler Bridger (Courtney), Ward Bridger, Jack and June Guggenheimer, and Declan Guggenheimer. He is also survived by his sisters, Mary Gibb (Arthur) and Lucy Ross, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Mary Strickland and Max Guggenheimer; his sister, Alice McKay, as well as his brothers-in-law, Roger McKay and Evans Ross.

Born and raised in Lynchburg, he attended GarlandRodes School. He also attended Madison Heights High School and graduated from E.C. Glass, making lifelong friendships at both schools, including the late Nollner and Smokie Watts, as well as the late Pete Peters.

He graduated from Virginia Military Institute and earned a B.A. in History. He enjoyed attending Class of 1959 reunions with his brother rats, especially the late John Reid and the late Johnny McCloud. After graduating, he received a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. He graduated from Airborne and Ranger School, and he was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. He saw combat in the Dominican Republic and Vietnam. He attended the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. His decades of military service concluded as a Major General (USAR) commanding the 80th Training Division.

His civilian career was in road-building. He started working with A.B. Burton Construction Company in high school, and after his military service, he returned to the company and rose to the position of Vice President. He also worked for English Construction Company, with important and meaningful colleagues, Kathy Dowdy and Jay Higginbotham, retiring as Senior Vice President and Human Resources Officer.

His life really was like a box of chocolates: he escorted Rose Kennedy in Berlin at J.F.K., Jr.’s Ich bin ein Berliner speech; he guarded Albert Speer at Spandau Prison; he chaired then Virginia Governor Mark Warner’s Council for Human Rights, and one day at Bedford Country Club, he shot a hole-in-one. He was a lifelong member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, serving in many lay person leadership roles, and actively served the church on numerous committees. The late Bishop Frank Vest and his wife Ann were special friends.

He attended segregated schools, but later participated in racial dialogues in Lynchburg. As a teen, he made deliveries from his family’s store in Elon to the Monacan community in Amherst County, and later he worked with Monacan and Episcopal Church leaders to create the Monacan Indian Nation Tribal Headquarters. He was in Germany serving on active duty when the Berlin Wall went up, and he was back in Berlin leading a reserve unit from the 80th Division when the wall came down. In the Vietnam War, he served as an embedded advisor to South Vietnamese Rangers, and later he returned to Vietnam on a veterans’ reconciliation trip, where he met with former North Vietnamese soldiers.

In a life that started in the Great Depression and World War II, and ended in the era of private space travel and artificial intelligence, he was always dedicated to the power of books. He was an avid reader, appreciating authors ranging from William Faulkner and Robert Frost to Anne Spencer and Alice Walker. A faithful customer of Givens Books, he was also a member of a book group founded by Reverend Nathan Brooks and now led by Reverend Martha Dixon Kearse. He and Ed Lovern, among many other dear friends, participated in that book club for decades.

He never stopped reading, studying, and learning, especially about the perspectives of others, striving to understand the complexities of the modern world while working to improve the conditions of the local community for all. He volunteered with Meals on Wheels, and he served on the boards of Westminster Canterbury and the D-Day Memorial.

Over the years, he liked driving his Boston Whaler on Smith Mountain Lake, playing golf at Colonial Hills, and exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway. He liked going to Nelson County to get apples from Flippin-Seaman Orchards. He also loved walking his dogs, Rusty and Gael, in Riverside Park, greeting and speaking with friends and strangers. He pretty much liked everyone he met, but he did not like onions.

In a life full of military deployments, work travel, and even pandemic isolation, he taught us that we can be together even when we are apart. So now, he is probably relaxing in a chair at some Sedalia Center in the Sky with his old dogs and listening to an angel band sing songs about sweet chariots, wildwood flowers, and the wings of eagles.

Max touched many lives, and his memory will continue to inspire his friends and especially his family. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lynchburg, at 2 p.m., with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Meals on Wheels in his honor.

Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family.