Peter H. Mattson *57

Peter died Nov. 9, 2020, in Great Neck, N.Y., at the age of 88.

Born in Evanston, Ill., Peter earned a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in 1953 and a Ph.D. in geology from Princeton in 1957.

After graduation Peter worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, D.C. Peter continued his work for the USGS in Puerto Rico, preparing geologic maps and serving as site geologist and petrologist for the National Academy of Sciences’ core hole in serpentinite.

In 1964 Peter joined the geology department at Queens College, serving twice as department chair before retiring in 1998. As chair he helped the department grow from five to 13 faculty and 20 to 55 majors and plan the master’s degree and Ph.D. programs. He taught physical geology, natural disasters, and mineralogy, as well as structural geology and “earthquakes, volcanoes, and moving continents” for non-majors. Peter’s fieldwork included more than 80 excursions to 20 states and 15 countries. He shared his work in two books, 34 articles, three geologic maps, one videotape, and several unpublished reports and abstracts.

Peter is survived by his wife of 66 years, Leila; children Andrew, Sarah, and Julia; and seven grandchildren.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.