Walter Rutherford Peterson Jr. ’47

Walter Rutherford Peterson Jr. ’47 of Peterborough, New Hampshire, died June l of cancer in the Monadnock Regional Hospital. He grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire, attended the New Hampton School, William & Mary and the University of New Hampshire before joining the class in the naval V-12 unit. He majored in education-comparative literature, played basketball and joined Beta Theta Pi. After graduation he taught at a school for disturbed children for two years and played semi-pro basketball with the Boston Hobos. In 1949 he joined a family business, Peterson’s Realtors, in Peterborough, serving as treasurer and partner until 1966. He was elected president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, l960-61, and director of the Peterborough Industrial Development Corp., 1968-71. He served four terms in the New Hampshire legislature, starting in 1961, and served as speaker in 1968 after serving as majority leader. He was elected governor of New Hampshire in 1969 and served two terms until 1973. As governor he worked with Dartmouth President John Sloan Dickey on the student takeover of Parkhurst Hall in 1970. In 1974, as a delegate to the New Hampshire constitutional convention, he was elected president. In 1975 he was asked to serve as acting president of Franklin Pierce College in Henniker, New Hampshire, a position that lasted 20 years. He served as a member of the Dartmouth Alumni Council, president of the Association of Alumni and president of the Cheshire County alumni association. At his 50th reunion in he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Dartmouth.