Peter J. Straus ’69

Peter died July 13, 2025, in Redding, Calif. He was a lifelong activist for peace and fairness, fighting time and again for causes he believed in.

Peter came to Princeton from Trenton High School. His father was a German-Jewish physician who escaped the Nazis but lost much of his family in the Holocaust. His mother was the Irish-American granddaughter of the Trenton fire chief. The family was intense, musical, introspective, extroverted, serious, and raucous. Likely that’s where Peter came by his profound insights and hilarious jokes.

At Princeton, Peter was regarded with wonder for his ability to get consistent A’s on papers he wrote in a single draft. He swam for Princeton and had many friends on the team as well as at Cloister Inn.

As staid 1965 morphed into wild 1967, Peter’s imaginative side blossomed. After a rollicking junior-year first semester in an infamous party suite, Peter joined the Army, playing clarinet in the Army band in Korea along the DMZ during mock “atomic bomb” detonations designed to impress North Korean officials. He returned to Princeton in 1970, graduating with the Class of ’72.

Peter worked as a recreational therapist, and in addition to that and his political activities, played in several bands, including with his family. All five siblings were fine musicians.

The class joins Peter’s brothers, John and Nick, and his sisters, Hedy and Marianne, in mourning the passing of this good man. Loyal to his family and friends, exceptionally open, generous and kind, Peter remained true to his beliefs and was a credit to his family, his alma mater, and his country.