Peter J. Marcus ’61

Peter died Jan. 3, 2018, after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 78.  

Peter was born in New York City and grew up in Westport, Conn., and Larchmont, N.Y. He came to Princeton from Phillips Exeter Academy, where he was a Cox Award recipient. At Princeton he majored in philosophy as part of the Special Humanities Program and was a member of Elm Club. He roomed with Tim Scarff, Roland Kuchel, Ted Ramsey, Dick Whitaker, and Walt Petraitis. 

After Princeton he earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1963. He practiced law in Chicago at Winston & Strawn until 1968, when he began a career in finance in New York. He moved his family to Weston, Conn., in 1972 and founded his own securities broker/dealer firm that pioneered the secondary trading of private placement debt. After his retirement in 2004, Peter and his wife moved to Vermont to enjoy spending time at their winter home. He was an avid tennis player and enjoyed skiing, reading, and writing, but most of all spending time with his grandchildren and teaching them math and science. 

Peter is survived by his wife of 56 years, Siv Marcus; his two children, Geoffrey ’88 and Jennifer; and five grandchildren.