Peter S. Walch *68

Peter Walch, retired art professor and longtime director of the University of New Mexico Art Museum, died May 3, 2014. He was 73.

Walch graduated from Swarthmore College in 1962, then earned a master’s degree in 1964 and Ph.D. in 1968 in art and archaeology from Princeton. He had received a Fulbright fellowship to study in England. He taught art history at Pomona, Vassar, Yale, and the University of New Mexico. At New Mexico, he became the director of its art museum, spending 15 years mounting exhibitions that used university and community resources.

Walch was proud of bringing the public to the museum. He once installed a modern design and technology exhibition that featured a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, with a dozen motorcycles parked out front.

After retiring from the university, Walch settled back in Maine, where he was born, and chaired his family’s educational-publishing company. In summer, he became the unofficial mayor of Little Diamond Island, greeting ferry visitors with lemonade and news.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; two children and stepchildren; and four grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.