George Peter (October 21, 1922 – August 10, 2008) was an activist for employee rights at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Biography

Peter was born in 1922 in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. His father was an Armenian immigrant, who had a farm near the town and worked in a quarry that was the source of the stone used to construct Myron Taylor Hall. Peter graduated from Ithaca High School in 1940 and then enlisted in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

. In 1947 Peter gave up a job which paid $4,400 annually for a post as an electriconics technician at Cornell that paid only $2,200. In 1960, he moved to

Arecibo, Puerto Rico Arecibo (; ) is a Arecibo barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado, Puerto Rico, Utuado and Ciales, Puerto Rico, Ciale ...

to help build the world's largest radio telescope. He returned to New York State two years later to lead the Research and Development Laboratory of the

National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science F ...

, and lived in Aurora, New York. His work involved specialized, low-noise radio astronomy receiver and antenna systems. In the aftermath of the black student takeover of

Willard Straight Hall Willard Straight Hall is the student union building on the central campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is located on Campus Road, adjacent to the Ho Plaza and Cornell Health. History 19th century Willard Straight Hall's constru ...

, Cornell revamped its governance, including adding student and faculty representatives to its board of trustees and creating a student-faculty-employee University Senate. Peter won election to the first Senate in 1970 and immediately began lobbying to establish an employee trustee position. When the state legislature created that seat in 1975, Peter won election to the position and served five terms. Peter also served as an employee representative on the Senate's Executive Committee and chaired other committees. He also served on the Trustee Executive Committee. He also started a page devoted to employee concerns in the ''

Cornell Chronicle The ''Cornell Chronicle'' is the in-house weekly newspaper published by Cornell University. History Prior to the founding of the ''Chronicle'' in 1969, campus news was reported by the ''Cornell Era'' and then by '' The Cornell Daily Sun''. Dur ...

'' as well as other Cornell employee publications. Peter wrote a column called "Leadership Leads" and a collection of his columns was subsequently published as a book. Peter served as employee representative on two Presidential search committees. Outside his Cornell employment, Peter owned a TV and appliance sales and service business from 1952 to 1960 and from 1962 to 1968. Peter was active as a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and gained rapport with other trustees who were also masons. Peter served as Master of two local lodges as well as Grand Historian for the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. He co-founded a series of leadership courses for New York masons. After Peter retired from Cornell in 1988, Peter was active in the Cornell Retirees Association. Cornell elected Peter trustee

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

in 1990. Peter then became active in the Morgan Opera House in Aurora, New York. He was co-founder of the Cornell Recreation Club.

Honors

In 1989, the outdoor plaza between Uris Hall and the Statler Hotel is named in his honor. The University named its "The George Peter Award for Dedicated Service" in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter, George Cornell University people People from Ithaca, New York 1922 births 2008 deaths Activists from New York (state) Ithaca High School (Ithaca, New York) alumni