In Memoriam

Frederic Peter Gardiner was born in Manhattan, NY on May 15, 1934 to Elizabeth Robyn Gardiner (née Miller) and Frederic Merrick Gardiner. Because his father taught sailing at Annapolis to midshipmen, Peter grew up with a love of sailing. Peter’s mother was Bermudian, and he spent many of his earliest years in Bermuda.  He recalled that at age seven, he sailed a tiny sailboat alone in Hamilton Harbor, Bermuda. His love of sailing continued throughout his life.  His favorite memories were of sailing his ocean-going sloop Galadriel with his son Michael, and daughter Lisa on San Francisco Bay.

Peter graduated from South Kent Preparatory school in Connecticut. After attending Princeton, he received a BS in Mathematics from Chicago University. While studying there, he joined the photography club and Chicago Mountaineering Club. With fellow mountaineers, he climbed and photographed the North American ranges; in the Tetons, they made some first ascents, one of which bears his name. In later years, he enjoyed further adventures — white-water rafting on the Colorado, hiking in the Rockies and Death Valley, and sailing both oceans.

Peter’s interest in mathematics and information systems led him to his career as a computer programming pioneer in the late 1950s. Through the decades that followed, he went on to become the director of software, and then director of computer engineering for the City of Chicago, Grumman Corp., Ontel, and a number of fledgling computer companies even into the late 1990s.

With his first wife Elaine (née Calleger), Peter had a daughter Lisa Marie and a son Michael Peter, in Chicago, IL. He and his family later resided in Roslyn, NY and San Francisco, CA. With his second wife, Carolee Stewart, he had a son Ryan Paul. They resided in Fanwood, NJ for many years, and in spring 2017 moved to Mill Creek, WA to live near Ryan and wife Jaqueline.  In the Pacific northwest Peter put his energy into his photography by taking many thousands of pictures of the beautiful flowers, bushes, flowering trees, and fall foliage of the northwest.

Early on the morning of April 14, 2022, Peter died in his Mill Creek home from vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, surrounded by his family.  Peter is survived by his wife Carolee and son Ryan and daughter-in-law Jaqueline; and his ex-wife Elaine, son Michael, daughter Lisa; and son-in-law Tim Cook.

Peter was much loved and is deeply missed. We will honor his wish that his ashes be spread on the sea, where he loved to sail.

In his memory, please make a donation to the Alzheimer’s association (Alz.org), to support research so that one day there will be a first survivor of this disease.