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TOWNSHEND -- Iver Peterson, a Brattleboro native that once used a Harvard degree toward his work at three major bureaus of the New York Times, died last week due to complications from leukemia. He was 70.
Peterson, of both Lawrenceville, N.J., and Townshend, succumbed to the disease on Wednesday, Aug. 1, his family announced.
He is survived by Chris, his wife of 33 years; his four children -- Heath, Kelicia, Holly and Lars; sister Karen and brothers Eric and Lars; five grandchildren, and dozens of nephews, nieces and grandnephews and grandnieces.
Born in Brattleboro on June 30, 1942, Peterson graduated from Harvard University in 1964. His brother, Eric, told the Reformer Peterson earned his bachelor's degree in English and got a job working as a clerk for James Reston in the Times' Washington bureau straight out of graduation.
He later spent several years in Vietnam working for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He continued with his career at the Times and eventually worked at bureaus in Trenton, N.J., and Denver.
After he retired from full-time journalism, Eric said, Peterson became the public affairs officer at the Jordan International Police Training Center in Amman, Jordan, where Chris spent two years working as the deputy chief of firearms for the Iraqi Police program.
"He settled in quite nicely," Eric said, mentioning his brother learned conversational Arabic.
Chris said her husband
Peterson had also been in the United State Merchant Marine in the 1960s and was an oiler apprentice for the International Brotherhood of Operating Engineers while in college.
Eric said his younger brother adored the American open road and once traveled with Times photographer Terry Moore, chronicling his travels through freelance pieces.
"He loved writing about people out in the country -- and the culture of people that were kind of forgotten about on the East Coast," Eric recalled.
Peterson loved working on vintage cars at the family farm in Townshend and spent countless family vacations driving cross-country and camping in the desert.
He also enjoyed singing around the campfire and in the choir at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, Eric said.
Family and friends will gather in Townshend on Saturday, Aug. 18, to celebrate his life.
The family requests that donations be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, online at www.lls.org.
Domenic Poli can be reached at dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 277.
