Pete Durgin was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He prepared at Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge and entered Yale in the Fall of 1955 with the Class of 1959. After Freshman Year he served 3 years in the Army including duty in Germany. He returned to Yale in 1959 and affiliated with our class.

Peter was a Philosophy honors major, Dean's List, ranking scholar and recipient of the New York Yale Club Award in 1960. He was a member of Silliman.

After graduation he joined New England Merchants Bank and pursued a career in banking, rising to become Vice President, Chief Economist and research director in the trust department at Bank of New England. At the time of his death, Peter was Vice President and Chief Economist of Constitution Capital Management Co., an investment firm.

He continued to support his prep school, serving on the Board of Trustees, raising funds for the school's first endowment and becoming Treasurer and Chairman of the Board. Under his leadership, the school, now known as Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, constructed a new library and a new science wing. He was a former treasurer of the Beacon Hall Nursery School and of the Community Music Center of Boston. After his death, the Community Music Center renamed its library as the Cyrus Peter Durgin Library in his honor.

Peter was not just a prodigious fundraiser or astute economist. At the Memorial Service, he was eulogized as "a Renaissance Man. His intellectual curiosity and attainments were both broad and deep…"; "insightful"; "dynamic"; "unselfish"; "a truly dynamic man, his interests far too numerous to list ...with a passion for his family."

His hobbies were sailing, cooking and playing the guitar and piano. He was devoted to jazz and Dixieland and also was a Boston Bruins season ticket holder. He and his wife Anne Sullivan Durgin and their children lived in Boston's South End and enjoyed a summer home in Yarmouthport.

In addition to his widow Anne he left 2 children, Cyrus J. and Leonora M. After his death, Susan operated a Bed & Breakfast in the family home. In 1999, she relocated to Seattle, is living in an old house, and is considering opening another B & B. Son "C.J." graduated from Evergreen State College with a degree in computer science and is with Amazon.com. Daughter "Nora" obtained her bachelor's degree at Eckerd College in Marine Science and is pursuing her master's degree at Antioch College in Seattle.

In Memoriam | Obituaries Index | Yale '62 Home