George Bortin; Lectured Widely on Shroud of Turin

George Bortin, 77, writer who lectured widely on the Shroud of Turin as the supposed burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Bortin became convinced of the relic’s authenticity after an international group of scientists studied it in 1979. After researching the legends and history of the cloth, Bortin and his wife, Virginia, co-authored a novel, “Image of a Man,” published under their pen name V.G. Bortin in 1983. George Bortin became a popular lecturer on the subject during the 1980s. Educated at Yale, Harvard and UCLA, he was a feature writer for several newspapers and an account executive in Philadelphia advertising agencies. He was a lieutenant commander with the U.S. Navy during World War II. On Sept. 8 in Los Angeles of cancer.