In the parlance of the Marines, where he served as an infantry officer more than 45 years ago, Gregor Peterson was a good soldier. And not just for his country.
Peterson, who died of esophageal cancer April 2 at 68, was devoted to Stanford throughout his life, as evidenced by the many roles he played: student, staff member, teacher, donor, volunteer, trustee. "There are very few areas of the University that Greg did not touch with his skills and generosity," Isaac Stein, jd/mba '72, chairman of the Board of Trustees, told Stanford Report.
A member of the rugby team and Phi Delta Theta at Stanford, Peterson served in the Marines for three years after graduation, then returned to the Farm to earn a business degree. In 1961, the San Francisco native co-founded Sutter Hill Co., one of the first and most influential venture-capital firms in Silicon Valley. He later served as an executive at another VC firm, Genstar Corp., and from 1975 to 1978 taught and consulted for the Graduate School of Business. "He was always there for business advice, personal advice or whatever," says Nancy Coffey, '68, MS '77, who took a class from him in 1977 and kept in touch for two decades. "I think he was a mentor to everyone," she told Stanford Report.
Peterson served two terms as director of the Stanford Management Co. and joined the Board of Trustees in 1992. He and his wife, Dion, '56, established a fund to pay expenses for Stanford athletic teams traveling to NCAA championships and endowed a professorship at the Business School. In 1998, Peterson received the Gold Spike award for outstanding service to the University.
He is survived by his wife; two sons, Eric, '79, and Christopher; four grandchildren; and his sister, Rosemary Nichols, '51.
