Peter Raymond Isele ’67

Peter died Oct. 18, 2004, of complications due to early-onset Parkinson's disease.

Peter was born in Perth Amboy, N.J., and graduated from Perth Amboy High School. A National Merit Scholar, he majored in chemistry at Princeton and joined Key and Seal.

After college, Peter was an IAESTE technical exchange student in England. In 1971, he graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and then served as a captain in the Air Force.

Following a stint as chief resident at Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., family ties brought Peter and wife Liz, to Hopkinsville, Ky., where he established a practice in internal medicine. An excellent diagnostician and great humanitarian, his New Jersey accent sometimes dumbfounded his Southern patients. Peter established a wound clinic and a free clinic for the working poor in Hopkinsville.

Although Parkinson's quickly robbed Peter of his speech and mobility, he continued to practice until he retired in 2001. He had experimental deep-brain stimulation the following year. It did not alleviate his suffering, but Peter was proud to have contributed to medical research.

His love for Princeton and for medicine never left him. A "tiger" until the end, he listened to the Brown/Princeton game the day before he died.

Peter is survived by Liz, son John Peter, daughter Libby, and brother Reginald Harned Isele '51.

The Class of 1967