Peter Stokes Godfrey  

New York Times  January 11, 2015

Peter Stokes Godfrey died on January 8, 2015 at age 73, in Scottsdale, Arizona.   

Husband, father, mentor, and friend, he  leaves behind a lifetime of memories; sailing all over the world, rowing at Exeter, Yale and Cambridge, and a long and successful career in risk management.  Peter is survived by his wife of 48 years, Nancy, and their children Alexandra and Thompson and their families.

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from Jon Larson:    

     Pete was another of my many Yale colleagues who always appeared bigger than life to me.   He was taller (by 4"). He rowed on the Yale heavyweight crew and for Trinity Hall/Cambridge while I was consigned to the intramural rowing captainship of the Calhoun crew. He sailed a sleek fast 44’ Swan 441 Ron Holland-designed racing machine, the ultimate ocean-going, performance, luxury sailing yacht of unrivalled build quality, on Long Island Sound off Connecticut and in ocean team racing as far away as Bermuda, while I sailed my 41' slower heavier self-built ketch the Hanalei on San Francisco Bay and gunkholed port to port on my own close to shore up and down the West Coast.   I settled for a more traditional job and career at IBM while Pete was attracted to and excelled in the "high risk" management insurance business.  In fact he started a new position with a new company in this past year.  But I did equal him in one important area. We both met, fell in love with, and married tall, socially engaging, vivacious, beautiful women who were both considerably smarter than ourselves with impressive academic credentials of their own. Unfortunately I actually outdid Pete in one area, Karen and I made it to 50 years while Pete and Nancy were interrupted at 48.  

     I know many stories about Pete but one of my favorites was Pete recalling how he drove 100 mph in January 1973 from Boston to Manchester, VT for the birth of their second child, Thompson.  He just made it.  Pete and Nancy came to visit us just four months ago in San Francisco.  We assembled the Bay Area Yale 63 contingent and enjoyed the evening with them at the St. Francis Yacht Club.   He had lost over 60 pounds from the chemo fighting stage 4 cancer but he seemed fit though gaunt and he maintained his relaxed manner, perennial smile and piercing wit about him and showed no sign of the dread he must have felt inside.  He told me he thought he had at least a good year left during which he planned to travel and ready his premature goodbyes in case he needed them while he waited the outcome of his chemo treatments. He mentioned he and Bob Hanson were planning to get together soon in Arizona and reestablish the Yale connection.  Unfortunately that was not to be.  We were fortunate San Francisco was on his first stop. 

    We all miss the big guy. He faced the end head on like everything else he encountered and accomplished in life.  He fought and finally lost the good fight that each of us will also eventually lose in time, the privilege of remaining with the living here on Earth. But Pete remains alive forever in the minds, memories and hearts of his family, his Yale 1963 classmates,  and everyone who knew him because I can not imagine anyone not liking Pete, even the competitors he beat soundly rowing crew, sailing the open oceans, and insuring high risk business transactions.