Peter Gray Curtis

Peter Gray Curtis, born September 6, 1941 in New Haven, CT, died unexpectedly on October 17, 2023 in Farmington, CT. Peter was the son of the late Walter M. and Eunice Carmichael Curtis and uncle of the late W. Curtis Radke. He leaves behind his sister, Sharon Curtis Radke (Rev. Dr. Louis J. Mitchell), his nephew, W. Carl Radke, as well as his grandniece, Vera Radke, and numerous cousins.

Peter graduated from Notre Dame High School and the University of Connecticut. He was drafted into the Army on July 17, 1967 and attended OCS at Fort Benning, GA, where he achieved the rank of Second Lieutenant. Peter served in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal for Heroism for combat infantry actions during the TET Offensive of 1968.

Peter was promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant during his active military service and was discharged on July 21, 1969. Peter continued in the active reserves and was a Commissioner with the Veterans Commission of Hamden, Connecticut

Peter’s career at Yale University included a variety of positions, culminating in his appointment in 1971 as Assistant Secretary of the University under Secretary Reuben A. “Ben” Holden, Yale Class of 1940, a former combat infantry officer in the Second World War.

Peter became a critical interlocutor for the Office of the Secretary of Yale when Sam Chauncey, a descendant of one of Yale’s first graduates and himself a member of the Yale Class of 1957, replaced Ben Holden as Secretary in 1971, at a time when history engulfed the Yale campus, with the first admission to Yale College of Women occurring (1969), along with the historic New Haven Black Panther Trial of 1970. Peter, who was fluent in French and German, routinely represented Yale in meeting and hosting luminaries and dignitaries as part of his official duties that had him working closely with Secretary Chauncey.

In 1976, Peter hosted the King and Queen of the Belgians at Yale during a state visit to the United States and Connecticut, specifically for a March 24, 1976 tour of the Electric Boat corporation in Groton, Connecticut.

On February 3, 1977, Peter left Yale University and the Office of the Secretary to pursue opportunities as a business finance consultant, serving land developers in New Haven and greater Connecticut. Peter worked closely with “Mr. New Haven,” Joel Shivone, another Yale man who, as a Dixieland banjo player, 1950s style rock-and-roll crooner, Republican gubernatorial candidate and a multi-millionaire real estate developer, singularly drove land development in downtown New Haven for many years.

Peter also became active in local development on a micro level, applying his significant finance skills to assist with the development of African American, Hispanic, and Woman-owned businesses through consulting with the Black Business Alliance.

Peter was respected for his personal stands against prejudice and was the first non-African American member of the NAACP for Greater New Haven.

Peter’s personal commitment to veterans in Hamden and all throughout Connecticut led to his creation of his Veteran’s service nonprofit, VETLINK, Inc.

In 2000, Peter joined the faculty of the Hartford College for Women of the University of Hartford as a consulting instructor of finance, serving businesses utilizing the “Entrepreneurial Center,” with offices based in Bridgeport and Hartford. In 2002 Peter became full-time faculty, working closely with Ms. Terry Funke in the development of WBE/DBE/MBE businesses.

Peter became a resident of Amberwoods of Farmington, a long-term care facility, in 2017, where he joined his University of Hartford colleague and dear friend Terry Funke, whose devoted friendship welcomed Peter to the Amberwoods community, along with life-long friends Marcella Kebabian and Vincent Ferrucci, who always took time to always let Peter know his roots in Hamden ran deep and are forever strong.

While at Amberwoods, longtime friend Malcolm Ashley arranged for Peter to receive the Connecticut Veterans Wartime Service Medal, accompanied by a letter of congratulations from Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Peter will be missed by his family and many friends.

Family and friends will be received Friday, October 27th from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at BEECHER & BENNETT, 2300 Whitney Avenue, Hamden. A brief service, officiated by Dr. Mitchell, will follow at 1:00 p.m. Burial will be at Beaverdale Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to NAMI (<https://www.nami.org>) or to Shatterproof, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the course of the addiction crisis in the United States (<http://www.shatterproof.org>).