Col. W. Gerald Massengill, former Virginia State Police superintendent, died at home Wednesday. The resident of the northern Dinwiddie County community of Sutherland was a member of the Virginia State Police from 1966 to 2003.
Massengill’s 37-year career led his family around the state before a promotion sent him to Dinwiddie in the 1980s. After retirement, he returned to duty for the commonwealth first as interim director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and then as a part of a panel investigating the April 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting. The document from the Virginia Tech Review Panel colloquially is known as the Massengill Report.
“Suzanne and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Colonel W. Gerald Massengill, a distinguished leader who dedicated his life to the safety and well-being of Virginians,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a press release.
“Colonel Massengill's steadfast leadership during pivotal moments in our Commonwealth's history, including the September 11th attacks and the D.C. sniper incidents, exemplified his unwavering commitment to public service.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, Troopers Merlin Wimbish and Mike Middleton were the first to respond to the Pentagon after terrorists flew a plane into the Arlington County building, state police said. Middleton was hospitalized for severe smoke inhalation in the attack that killed all 64 people on the plane and 125 people in the Pentagon.
There were 2,977 overall victims at the World Trade Center in New York; on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville Pennsylvania; and at the Pentagon, according to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
The following year, 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo and his surrogate father, John Allen Muhammad, shot and killed 10 people and injured three others in multiple shootings in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
“As the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, Colonel Massengill was a steady hand during moments of crisis.," Sen. and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said in a statement early Thursday.
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore appointed Massengill first as acting superintendent before officially becoming superintendent in June 2000,according to State Police. He continued his tenure into Warner's administration.
"Colonel Massengill’s service to Virginia and our country will never be forgotten, and we are all better for having known him,” Warner said.
Massengill — who was born Sept. 27, 1942, in Four Oaks, North Carolina, according to his obituary — also was a member of the Sutherland Ruritan Club. He and his wife, Nita, were the 2018 Dinwiddie Christmas Parents. One of their three children, W. Kevin Massengill, is Dinwiddie's county administrator. Massengill, 82, was a member of Ocran United Methodist Church in Sutherland.
"Colonel Massengill was just one of a kind – he's honest, just had a heart of gold, out to help anybody, loved his family, loved his county," Bill Chavis, chair of the Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors, said Thursday.
Chavis, who also is a native of North Carolina, said he and Massengill became friends, especially because they both rooted for the University of North Carolina.
"When I gave my speech when I first got on the board, when I got through with my speech, he came up to me and he said, 'My son [Kevin] needs you.' And that made him special to me from there on. ... Kevin told me yesterday he really thought the world of me. Relationships like that you don't come by every day."
Editor's notes:
- This story was updated Jan. 2, 2025, at 6:45 a.m. to add comments form Sen. Mark Warner; at 10:15 a.m. to add comments from Bill Chavis; and at 3:08 p.m. to add information from Massengill's obituary.
- News Director Elliott Robinson was the Dinwiddie County reporter for the Progress-Index from 2006 to 2008.
