Peter A. Crean *70

Peter died of natural causes in Rochester, N.Y., Dec. 23, 2023.

Born in Toronto Oct. 26, 1942, Peter graduated from the University of Toronto in 1964 and earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1970.

He joined Xerox in 1970 as a scientist at the company’s research center in Webster, N.Y. Over the next four decades, he developed or co-developed many of the technologies that became the building blocks of digital printing and imaging as it exists today.

He was one of three members of an engineering team that produced the first laser printer. At the beginning of the list of 40 patents he created for Xerox was the company’s first high-quality, high-speed CCD document scanner. With Xerox researchers, Peter found a way to run imaging and compression algorithms for variable printing on high-performance video chips — an application that yielded higher print speeds and better imaging quality at lower cost. 

He was awarded the Robert F. Reed Technology Medal by the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts.

Peter was a longstanding volunteer for Graduate Annual Giving.

Dorothy, his wife of 55 years, died hours after Peter. He is survived by daughterTara ’94, son Jeff ’01, and two grandchildren.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.