Peter A. Wolff, professor physics emeritus at MIT, died on September 5, 2013 due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease.  He was 89.

Peter was a prominent condensed matter theorist who exerted great influence during his career at Bell Laboratories, MIT and the NEC Research Institute.  A native of Oakland, California, Peter received his undergraduate and PhD degrees from Berkeley in 1945 and 1951, respectively, and joined Bell Laboratories in 1952.  His work focused on semiconductors, optics and on magnetism and many-body physics.  His 1966 paper with Robert Schrieffer deriving the Kondo exchange Hamiltonian, widely known as the Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, is still referenced in textbooks today. He also did pioneering theory work on light scattering from magneto-plasma modes in metals and semiconductors.  He co-authored with P.M. Platzman a well-known book Waves and Interactions in Solid State Plasmas (1973) which summarized a list of his work from this period.  In addition to his success as a research scientist, his talents as a manager were recognized at Bell Labs, where Peter rose through the ranks as department head and then Director of the Electronics Research Laboratory.

In 1970, Peter left Bell Labs to join the physics department at MIT.  He was charged with bringing modern condensed matter physics to the physics department.  Within a few years, Peter hired Marc Kastner, John Joannopoulos and Robert Birgeneau.  Together they formed a core group of condensed matter physicists whose influence on the department can still be felt today.  Peter was the Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics from 1976 to 1981 and the Director of the Francis Bitter National Magnet Lab (then on the MIT campus) from 1981 to 1987.  The fractional quantum Hall effect was discovered at the Magnet Lab during his tenure.  Peter was greatly supportive of the research effort and provided opportunities and mentoring for graduate students such as Greg Boebinger (now Director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida) to work on the subject.  His own research moved on to nonlinear optics and the theory of magnetic polarons in magnetic semiconductors such as Mn doped CdSe.  He also worked closely with experimental colleagues and students on spin-flip Raman scattering in narrow gap semiconductors.

Peter retired from MIT in 1989 and started a new venture as Fellow at the NEC Research Institute at Princeton.  He helped recruit many outstanding talents to the newly established Lab and helped establish NEC as a flourishing research center.  When the experimental group there made the surprising discovery that light can be transmitted through metal films with holes whose diameters are much less than the wavelength, Peter came up with a theory based on surface plasmon resonance, an explanation which has withstood the test of time.

Peter returned to MIT in 1994 and used his connections with industry to direct graduate students towards opportunities outside of academia.  Generations of graduate students have benefited from his tireless efforts.  

Peter possessed a deep intuitive grasp of condensed matter physics which allowed him to spot research opportunities and identify young talents.  At the same time, he was honest to a fault and totally selfless in his dealing with colleagues and students alike.  His easy going manner put everyone around him at ease and contributed to his success as a manager.  His wise council, his caring ways and the generosity of his spirit will be missed by all those fortunate enough to have known him.

Peter loved the great outdoors and the visual arts.  A collector of Native American and abstract expressionist art, he served as chair of the MIT Council of the Arts in 1987.  His wife, artist Catherine Vance Carroll, died in 2000.  He is survived by his daughter, Mia, an artist; his son, Whitney, a psychiatrist; and four grandchildren.

To share stories celebrating Peter’s life or to express condolences, please visit the memorial website http://forevermissed.com/peter-adalbert-wolff/.

Robert J. Birgeneau, MIT, Cambridge.

Gregory S. Boebinger, NHMFL, Tallahasse.

Eric D. Isaacs, ANL,Argonne.

Marc A. Kastner, MIT, Cambridge.

Patrick A. Lee, MIT, Cambridge.

Peter A. Wolff

Born: November 15, 1923                  Oakland, California 

Citizenship: U.S.

Degrees:

     A. B. Physics -- University of California, Berkeley (1945)
     Ph. D. Physics -- University of California, Berkely (1951) 

Employment History:

Research Scientist, Lawrrence Radiation Lab           1951-52
Staff Scientist, Bell Telephone Labs                  1952-63
Professor of Physics, University of California,
(San Diego)                                           1963-64
Department Head and Director of Electronics
Research Laboratory, Bell Telephone Labs              1964-70 

Major Research Interests:

Light scattering, solid state plasmas, semiconductors, nonlinear optics

Books

P. M. Platzman and Peter A. Wolff, Waves and Interactions in Solid State Plasmas. (Academic Press), New York and London, 1973). 

Papers

1. "Excitation Function of the Reaction C12 (p,pn) C11 at High Energies", (with W. Heckrotte), Phys. Rev. 73, 264 (1948)

2. "Production of mu-mesons by Gamma Rays", Phys. Rev. 81, 1055 (1951).  

3. "Radiation from an Electron in a Magnetic Field", (with D. L. Judd, J. V. Lepore and M. Ruderman), Phys. Rev. 86, 123 (1952).

4. "The Scattering of Protons from Carbon", Phys. Rev. 87, (1952).

5. "Theory of Plasma Waves in Metals", Phys. Rev. 92, 18 (1953). 

6. "Theory of Secondary Electron Cascade in Metals", Phys. Rev. 95, 56 (1954). 

7. "Theory of Electron Multiplication in Silicon and Germanium", Phys. Rev. 95, 56 (1954).

8. "Theory of Plasma Resonance", Phys. Rev. 103, 845 (1956).

9. "Theory of Plasma Resonance in Solids", Phys. Rev. 112, 66 (1958).

10. "Effects of Electron Correlation on the Optical Properties of Metals", Phys. Rev. 116, 544 (1959).

11.  "Effect of Landau Levels upon Tunnel Currents in Indium Antimonide", (with A. G. Chynoweth and R. A. logan), Phys. Rev. Lett. 5, 548 (1960).

12. "Spin Susceptibility of an Electron Gas", Phys. Rev. 120, 814 (1960).

13. "Theory of Optical Radiation from Breakdown Avalanches in Germanium", J. Phys. Chem. Solids 16, 184 (1960). 

14. "Ferromagnetism in Dilute Solutions of Cobalt in Palladium", (with R. M. Bozorth, D. D. Davis, V. B. Compton and J. H. Wernick), Phys. Rev. 122, 1157 (1961).

15. "Localized Moments in Metals", Phys. Rev. 124, 1030 (1961).

16. "Pair Correlation in a Plasma", Phys. Fluids 5, 316 (1962).

17. "Magnetization of Localized States in Metals", (with P. W. Anderson, A. M. Clogston, B. T. Matthias, M. Peter and H. J. Williams), J. Appl. Phys. Supplement 33, 1173 (1962).

18. "Theory of the Band Structure of Very Degenerate Semiconductors", Phys. Rev. 126, 405 (1962).

19. "Effect of Correlation on the High-Frequncy Conductivity of an Electron Gas", Phys. Rev. 132, 2017 (1963).

20. "Nuclear relaxation as a Probe of Electron Spin Correlation", Phys. Rev. 129, 84 (1963).

21. "Quantum Effects in the Infrared Reflectivity of Bismuth", (with L. C. Hebel), Phys. Rev. Lett. 11, 368 (1963).

22. "Matrix Elements and Selection Rules for the Two-Band Model of Bismuth", J. Phys. Chem. Solids 25, 1057 (1964).

23. "Proposal for a Cyclotron Resonance Maser in InSb", Physics 1, 147 (1964).

24. "Effect of Open Orbits on Helicon and Alfven-wave Propagation in Solid-State Plasmas", (with S. J. Buchsbaum), Phys. Rev. Lett. 15, 406 (1965).

25. "Thomson and Raman Scattering by Mobile Electrons in Crystals", Phys. Rev. Lett. 16, 225 (1966). 

26. "Giant Density Fluctuations in Semiconductors", J. Phys. Chem. Solids 27, 685 (1966). 

27. "Relation Between the Anderson and Kondo Hamiltonians", (with J. R. Schrieffer), Phys. Rev. 149, 491 (1966).

28. "Theory of a Tunable Raman Laser", IEEE J. Quantum Electronics QE-2, 659 (1966).

29. "Theory of Optical Mixing by Mobile Carriers in Semiconductors", Phys. Rev. Lett. 17, 1015 (1966). 

30. "Spin-Wave Excitation in Nonferromagnetic Metals", (with P. M. Platzman), Phys. Rev. Lett. 18, 280 (1967).

31. "Effect of Nonparabolicity on Light Scattering from Plasmas in Solids", Phys. Rev. 171, 436 (1968).

32. "Light Scattering from a Plasma in a Magnetic Field", (with P. M. Platzman and N. Tzoar), Phys. Rev. 174, 489 (1968).

33. "Light Scattering from Mobile Electrons in Semiconductors" in Proceedings of the IX International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors, Moscow, July 23-29, 1968 (Nauka, Leningrad, 1968).

34. "Light Scattering from Solid State Plasmas" in Light Scattering Spectra of Solids, Proceedings of the International Conference on Light Scattering Spectra of Solids, New York, September 3-6, 1968 (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1968).

35. "Theory of Light Scattering from Magnetoacoustic Waves in Solid-State Plasmas", Phys. Rev. B1, 164 (1970).

36. "Theory of Light Scattering from Coupled Electromagnetic-Magnetoplasma Modes in Semiconductors", Phys. Rev. B1, 950 (1970).

37. "Plasma Wave Instability in Narrow-Gap Semiconductors", Phys. Rev. Letts. 24, 266 (1970).

38. "Stimulated Emission of Plasmons in Narrow-Gap Semiconductors", in The Physics of Semimetals and Narrow Gap Semiconductors, edited by Carter and Bate (Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York, 1971). 

39. "Theory of Stimulated Light Scattering from Electrons in Semiconductors", in Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Light Scattering in Solids, Paris, July 19-23, 1971 (Flammarion Sciences, Paris, 1971).

40. "Electronic Structure of Semiconductors" in Electronic Materials, edited by N. Bruce Hannay and Umberto Columbo (Plenum Publishing Corp., New York, 1972).

41. "Nonlinear optics" in Electronic Materials, edited N. Bruce Hannay and Umberto Colombo (Plenum Publishing Corp,. New York, 1972).

42. "Theory of Resonant Far Infrared Generation In InSb", (with T. L. brown), Phys. Rev. Lett. 29, 362 (1972).

43. "Electron Scattering as a Probe of Nuclear Wave Functions in Solids", (with Vikas Sukhatme), J. Appl. Phys. 44, 2331 (1971).

44. "Stimulated Compton Scattering as a Radiation Source -- Theoretical Limitations", (with Vikas Sukhatme), J. Appl. Phys. 44, 2331 (1973). 

45. "Spin Nonlinearities in In Sb" in Proceedings of the International Conference on Narrow Gap Semiconductors, Nice, 1973 

46. "Output Behavior of Electronic Spin-Flip Raman Lasers", (with S. Y. Yuen and B. Lax), Optics Comm. 10, 4 (1974). 

47.  "Theory of Spin-Flip Raman Scattering Line Shape in Narrow-Gap Semiconductors", (with S. Y. Yuen and B. Lax), Phys. Rev. 89, 3394 (1974).

48. "Raman Scattering from Coherent Spin States in n-Type Cds", (with R. Romestain, S. Geschwind and G. E. Devlin), Phys Rev. Letts. 33, 10 (1974).

49. "Theory of Traveling-Wave Electronic Raman Lasers -- Stokes-Anti-Stokes Coupling in the Steady State", (with S. Y. Yuen and B. Lax), Phys Rev. A10, 416 (1974). 

50. "Stress-Tuned Stimulated Light Scattering in p-Type Semiconductors", (with S. Y. Yuen and B. Lax), Sol. State Comm. 14, 1079 (1974). 

51. "Stimulated Magneto-Compton Scattering - A Possible Tunable Far Infared and Millimeter Wave Source" (with Vikes Sukhatme), J. Quantum Elec. QE-10, 870 (1974).

52. "Chemical Bond Approach to the Magnetic Susceptibility of Tetrahedral Semiconductors", (with Vikas Sukhatme), Phys Rev. Letts. 35, 1369 (1975).

53. "Free Electron Nonlinear Optical Processes in Semiconductors" in Proceedings of the Scottish univeristy Summer School in Physics, 1975.

54. "Spin Dynamics and Four Photon Mixing in InSb" (with V. T. Nguyen and E. G. Burkhardt), Optics Comm. 16, 145-148 (1976).

55. "Coherent Effects in Spin-Flip Light Scattering", (with R. N. Nucho and R. L. ggarwal), IEEE, Journal of Quantum Elec. QE-12, 500 (1976).

56. "Spin-Flip Nonlinearities in Semiconductors" in Laser Photochemistry, Tunable Lasers and Other Topics (Physics of Quantum Electronics, Vol. IV) edited by S. F. Jacobs, M. Saregent, M. O. Scully and C. T. Walker, (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1976).

57. "Theory of Spin-Flip Line Shape in Cds", (with J. G. Ramos and S. Y. Yuen) in Theory of Light Scattering in Condensed Matter, edited by B. Bendw, J. L. Birman and V. M. Agranovich (Plenum Publishing Corp., New York, 1976).

58. "Dispersion of the Nonlinear Optics Susceptibility of n-Type Germanium", (with R. A. Wood, M. A. Khan, and R. L. Aggarwal), Optics Comm. 21, 154-57, (1977).

59. "A Chemical Bond Approach to the Electric Susceptibility of Semiconductors, I", (with R. N. Nucho and J. G. Ramos), Phys. Rev. B 17, 1843 (1978).

60. "A Chemical Bond Approach to the Electric Susceptibility of Semiconductors, II", (with R. N. Nucho and J. G. Ramos), Phys. Rev. B17, 1843 (1978).

61. "Resonant Four Wave Mixing in n-Type Silicon", (with M. A. Khan and D. J. Muehlner) (1979).

62. "Surface Enhancd Raman Scattering", (with S. L. McCall, P. M. Platzman), Phys. Lett. A77, 381 (1980).

63. "Effect of Magnetic Field on the Valley-Orbit Split 1s States of Shallow Donors in Germanium" (with R. L. Aggarwal, R. People and D. M. Larsen), J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 49, 197 (1980). 

64. "Collective Modes of Photoexcited Electron-Hole Plasmas in GaAs", (with A. Pinczuk and J. Shah), Phys. Rev. Lett. 47, 1487 (1981).  

65. "Nonlinear Absorption Due to Shallow Donors in Gemanium at 1.6 m" (with J. McManus, R. People and R. L. Aggarwal), J. Appl. Phys. 52, 4748 (1981).

66. "Off-diagonal Zeeman Effects in the Ground State Manifold of n-Ge" (with R. People), Phys. Rev. B 24, 4634 (1981).

67. "Diamagnetic and Zeeman Shifts of the Ground State of Arsenic Donors in Germanium" (with C. Jagannath, E. R. Youngdale, D. M Larsen and R. L. Aggarwal), Solid State Comm. 43, 267 (1982). 

68. "Difference-Frequcny Variation of the Free-carrier-Induced Third Order Nonlinear Susceptibility in n-InSb" (with S. Y.Yuen), Appl. Phys. Lett. 40, 457 (1982).

69. "Electrc-Dipole Spin Resonance of Bound Electronic States in Cd1-xMnxSe" (with M. Dobrowolska, H. D. Drew, J. K. Furdnya, T. Ichiguchi and A. Witowski), Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 845 (1982).

70. "Plasmon-Assisted Recombination in Narrow-Gap Semiconductors in a Magnetic Field" (with C. Verie and S. Y. Yuen), J. Vac. Sci. & Technol. 21, 231 (1982).

71. "Bound Magnetic Polarons and Spin Flip Raman Scattering in (Cd,Mn)Se" (with D. Heiman and J. Warnock), Physica 117B & 118B, 485 (1983).

72. "Nonlinear Optical Studies of Picosecond Relaxation Times of Electrons in n-GaAs and n-GaSb", (with K. Kash and W. A. Bonner), Appl. Phys. Lett. 42, 173 (1983).

73. "Spin-Flip Scattering, Bound Magnetic Polaron and Fluctuations in (Cd,Mn)Se" (with D. Heiman and J. Warnock), Phys Rev. B 27, 4848 (1983).

74. "Bound Magnetic Polarons in Dilute Magnetic Semiconductors" (with J. Warncok), J. Appl. Phys. 55, 2300 (1983).

75. "Far-InFrared Observation of the Electric-Dipole Spin Resonance of Donor Electrons in Cd1-xMnxSe", (with M . Dobrowolska, A. Witowski, J. K. Furdyna, T. Ichiguchi and H. D. Drew), Phys. Rev. B 29, 6652 (1984).

76. "High Magnetic Fields for Physics", (with L. G. Rubin), Phys. Today, 37, 24 (1984).

77. "Polarized  Photoluminescence from Bound Magnetic polarons in (Cd,Mn)Se", (with D. Heiman, J. Warnock, R. Kershaw, D. Ridgely, K. Dwight and A. wold), Solid State Comm. 52, 909 (1984).

Peter moved from Boston to live at Traditions, an assisted living facility close to Whitney. 

Though not obvious, his dementia was beginning to shape his life by this point.

He worked at creating a new social life for himself among the other residents at Traditions. He frequently would bring out a bottle of wine on the back patio of Traditions in the waning sunshine of the afternoon, to share with his new friends. He joined a group of male residents that regularly went out for a meal and drinks every couple of weeks, but also loved the dances that were organized at Traditions. He had one particular friend with whom he loved to watch Red Sox games.

He frequently embarked on wandering hikes through the surrounding countryside, eventually getting to the point that he would travel too far, such that he wasn't able to find his way back without assistance. This predictably caused great alarm at his assisted living facility, but he remained unimpressed, stubbornly insisting on his right to hike where and when he pleased. We eventually persuaded him to only go for accompanied hikes.

Far past the time when he was able to walk any distance at all without assistance, he would still daydream about the magical possibility of being able to walk all the way from Traditions back to California, and to the Sierras themselves.  

But, as his dementia progressed, his ability to function and maintain relationships declined inexorably, such that he had to move - first to a memory unit at Epoch of Weston and then to the nursing home floor at the same facility.

This decline was surprisingly unpredictable and inconsistent. At a time when he could no longer make change or tell time, he was still able to make successful investment choices.

Although he became a dramatically diminished version of himself and increasingly incapable of much sustained communication, his charm, kindness and creative sparkle were still recognizable. The last year of his life was a particulary comfortable and graceful one as a result of the expert assistance of Life Choice Hospice (who provided services to him at Epoch).

In 1970 Peter left Bell Labs to take a position at MIT. Colleagues have described him as a helpful mentor to many of the younger members of the department and to have fostered a spirit of collaboration. 

He reportedly created a physics lunch meeting, dubbed "chez Pierre" in his honor, both the moniker and the meeting itself having continued until this day.  

During his years at MIT, he served sequentially as director of both the RLE and the Magnet Lab.

He retired from MIT in 1988, taking a position as a senior scientist at NEC in Princeton.

His first grandson, Mia's son Virgil, was born in 1990.

When he retired from NEC, he and Cathy returned to live in Boston 1996, living on Marlborough Street in Boston. At MIT he served as liaison between the university and industry, a role that he had special interest in and seems to have created. 

Nora Wolff was born to Whitney and Deb Stubeda in 1997, Sam and Peter Wolff following in 1999.

Cathy was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000, dying about 4 months later. Peter was her primary caretaker, and this was a very difficult time. He put up a show of her paintings in their Marlborough St. condominium as a memorial.

In later years he became close with Young Hee Khang, who was a friend of his and Cathy's from Princeton. Young Hee had herself been widowed years before. The two of them enjoyed many years together, traveling and socializing with friends.

Mia recalls Peter telling her that one of his first impressions of Bell Labs was that his new colleagues were frighteningly intelligent.

A biographical sketch written years later at MIT summarized his work at Bell:

"His work at Bell was concerned with a variety of theoretical solid state physics problems in such fields as magnetism, many-body theory, semiconductors, light scattering, and nonlinear optics. He also held administrative posts there, notably that of director of the Electronics Research Laboratory (a large, optics oriented research group). The most importnat research he did at Bell was that in light scattering and nonlinear optics. This work was the impetus for many later studies of the non-linear optical properties of mobile electrons in crystals and led, in an indirect way, to the development of the spin-flip laser."

The physicists and their families at Bell Labs were drawn from all over the country and beyond.  In the absence of local connections, they seemed drawn towards each other, at times creating a kind of proxy extended family. Mia and Whitney recall regularly always celebrating major holidays and taking many vacations with other Bell Labs families.

Whitney was born in 1954 in New Jersey. The family first lived in Summit, N.J., moving to Berkeley Heights a few years later. 

The Wolff family lived in La Jolla California for a year while Peter took a sabbatical year at the Scripps Institute 1963-64.

Peter met Cathy Carroll while they were both attending Berkeley. Cathy had grown up in rural Arkansas, the daughter of the town's Presbytarian minister. Her father, Emerton, was a forceful and charismatic man, sometimes sounding a little larger than life within Cathy's stories about him. The Carroll family moved to Laguna, California during her teen years, when her father took a position as a military chaplain. 

Peter and Cathy shared a deep love of the outdoors and of the arts, which endured throughout their years together. Decades later, they loved to tell stories about their years in Berkeley and their mutual friends there.


They were married by the Reverend Emerton Carroll (Cathy's father) in the First Presbytarian Church in Hollywood California on September 11th, 1948. 

Mia was born in Berkely in 1951. Cathy told us that her mother-in-law (our Nana) showed up on their doorstep wearing a nursing uniform, shortly afterwards, clearly ready to jump into the fray and take charge.

When Peter chose to take a position a Bell Labs shortly afterwards (3,000 miles from Berkeley), he was partially motivated by a desire to create some degree of independence for himself and his new family.

 

Peter enlisted in the Army while in graduate school. As a technical corporal, he was stationed in Los Alamos -- where, among many other things, he learned how to play a mean hand of poker. 

Peter said that he had a high school teacher who introduced him to the world of numbers, at which point, "my whole world opened up".

Here is a letter of recommendation written from his high school to the University at Berkeley:

H. A. Thaler
University High School
5714 Grove Street
Oakland California 

                                              January 18, 1940
 

Dean of Undergraduates
University of California
Berkeley, California

Dear Sir,

I would like to recommend Peter A Wolff, who will be graduated by University High School this coming June, for a scholarship at the University.

Peter is a member of our experimental, two-hour Physical Science class and is thus in competition with some of the best minds in the school. He easily tops the group. Besides the interest and cooperation one would expect in an intelligent, well-adjusted student, Peter possesses a very rare quality of innate scholarship; it is revealed in his reading the entire chemistry book before the semester was a month old -- not as a stunt, but because he wanted to know its contents. It is revealed in his reports to the class and in his comments about them in post-mortem; these comments display a real ability at objective self-evaluation and a democratic concern over their value to the class. It is revealed in his contributions to discussions by the class; Peter seldom makes a statement which he is not prepared to support with evidence from observation or principle.

Since the above remarks are based on subjective evidence, I should like to refer to some more objective data. besides I.Q., Reading age and marks, we have also Peter's record of achievement on certain Progressive Education Association tests: Interpretation of Data, Application of Principles, and Nature of Proof. These tests measure aspects of abilities to reason inductively, deductively, and logically, respectively; they do not correlate higher than 0.5 with each other. On each of these tests, Peer stands at the head of the class -- a remarkable record.

Peter is well liked, a leader in his social group, and a good citizen. He is respected by teachers and classmates alike and it is a pleasure to speak in his behalf.

If there is any further information that I can supply, please call on me.

Yours truly,

Herbet A Thelen
Science Department, University High School

There's a story as to how Peter's parents (Ruth Searles and Adabert Wolff) first met.

Ruth was sadly returning from Europe, having turned down a marriage offer from a man in France, believing she could not live so far from her family in California. Seeing how despondent she was, her mother took her for a trip into the Sierra mountains.

As Ruth stepped out onto the balcony of their hotel in the Sierras on her first morning, she spotted a young man standing undeneath. He was boldly waving his hand over his head, calling up to her. "Yoo-hoo!" he was calling up to her. Ruth immediately sent to San Francisco for her good clothes -- and so, came to know Adalbert (the man below). 

Adalbert was both a bold and a kind man. He was also adventurous and athletic, famously performing a backflip off a diving board at the age of 70 (Mia can vouch for this). When Adalbert immigrated to the U.S. from Germany before WWI, his family's plans were for him to begin working in the New York offices of a transatlantic corporation (I.G. Farben). He was too much of a free spirit for this, and instead took off cross-country, bouncing from one unusual job to another, traveling all the way to California. With opportunities scarce for Germans during the war years, he temporarily took work as a ranch hand in Santa Cruz, on the site of the future university. He eventually became a stock broker in San Francisco.

Peter was born in 1923. His mother wished to have more children but was not able to.  She had musical talent and was  involved in the arts. She considered a career for herself as a classical singer, which she put aside with marriage, as was the expectation. She poured her energies into Peter and always spoke of our father with great pride to us. She was known as "Ruthie" to Adalbert, as "Muttie" to Peter, and as "Nana" to us.

To us (Mia and Whitney), Nana always seemed the perfect grandmother, loving us unconditionally, able to build a magical world  (beyond any other) around us whenever we visited.