Deceased December 14, 2020

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In Memory

Peter was well-known to all of us as undergraduates for his dramatic talents. Indeed, his dramatic career started at age 15 when he organized the Lyric Theater Co. of Washington, D.C. In 1978, he was co-founder of The Victorian Lyric Opera Co., which continues to this day, performing mostly Gilbert and Sullivan operas, of which Peter was a great enthusiast. 

But Peter’s career was as an innovative educator, first as a teacher of drama but later as a practitioner, administrator and trainer of teachers in his system of Integrative Education. He taught his methods in several major American cities and around the world, extending the principles of his system to major corporations. His body of writing includes 16 books on both theater and teaching strategies.

His heavily attended virtual memorial service included extraordinary testimonials from former students and colleagues, as well as his three daughters, about his beneficent influence on their lives and the ways in which he had opened the world to them. 

My own close acquaintance with Peter was in the last years of his life. Our classmates in the D.C. area have lunch together four times a year. Peter and I, who live within a few blocks of each other, drove to the restaurant together and enjoyed, as long as he was able, wide-ranging conversations, not to mention renditions of G&S songs. Peter always had interesting ideas about education, theater and human relationships. His ideas were sometimes unusual but always worthy of consideration.

Peter is survived by Syril, his wife of 31 years; three daughters; two stepsons; 12 grandchildren; and two brothers.

Bob Shoenberg ’57