Deceased September 21, 2020
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In Memory
“He was tough as nails and soft as Charmin at the same time,” Peter Brawley’s children wrote in the eulogy they prepared together. “He loved being a father. He loved being a grandfather. And we loved him being all those things and more.” Everyone who knew Peter viewed him in the same way: solid, honest, funny and absolutely dependable. To many, he was known as “The Rock.”
Peter passed away on Sept. 21, 2020, after suffering a sudden heart attack. For most of his life after Amherst, he lived with his beloved wife, Erin, and his six children in Lordship, Conn., a waterfront neighborhood of Stratford. He was one of those people who occupy the very heart of a community. More than 500 people attended his memorial service.
Steve Scroggins ’74 and Dave Moriarty ’74, fraternity brothers at TD, recalled Peter as steady, hardworking and unpretentious. As Steve wrote, “Peter lived the life he wanted, where he wanted, surrounded by extended family and friends.” No one who knew him at Amherst ever doubted that marrying Erin and raising an Irish-Catholic family was foremost on his mind, and none of us are surprised that his wife and family, including six grandchildren, were the center of his universe. Pete was a passionate golfer and, fittingly, played 18 holes with a son the day before he died.
Peter was born in Needham, Mass. He attended Fairfield Prep in Connecticut before coming to Amherst, where he majored in history and played for The Darp as a defensive back. He went on to a graduate degree at NYU.
But family and community counted most. His children wrote: “Peter has always taken his time with everything in life. He drives slow, walks slow, golfs slow, but taking to loving Erin Lyddy Brawley was something he jumped to and did every day of his life since then.”
David “Bronco” Werner ’74 and Cullen Murphy ’74