Dr. F. Peter Boer

Peter Boer, Nobel-cited Scientist, Author, and Chemical Executive, Dies at 81

Dr. F. Peter Boer, 81, a Harvard University PhD, chemical executive, author, and Yale University adjunct professor, who contributed to a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died unexpectedly on October 3, in Alexandria, Virginia. His wife of 60 years, Ellen Boer, was by his side.

A cum laude graduate of Princeton University, Dr. Boer earned a PhD in chemical physics at Harvard University, and was cited in Dr. William Lipscomb’s 1976 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He began his career at Dow Chemical in 1965, and later served as Vice President of Research and Development at American Can Company. He directed the Columbia Maryland Research Division at W.R. Grace, ascending to Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the company. Upon retiring in 1995, Dr. Boer authored 10 books, including the Valuation of Technology and The Real Options Solution, which were translated into multiple languages. He was appointed the John J. Lee Adjunct Professor at the Yale School of Engineering, taught at the Yale School of Management, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, where he chaired the Peer and Finance Committees.

Dr. Boer was a formal advisor to many government and academic organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Princeton, Harvard, University of Chicago, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, and Texas A&M. He was Chairman of the Evaluation Committee for the National Medal of Technology under Presidents William J. Clinton and George W. Bush, and elected President of the Industrial Research Institute. Through his company, Tiger Scientific, he was appointed to eight boards of directors, including W.R. Grace, ENSCO and NOVA Chemicals.

Born in Budapest in 1940 during World War II to an American mother and Hungarian physician, the Boer family, including his younger sister, escaped to the U.S. in 1946. He grew up in Lackawanna, New York, and attended Nichols School, where he was distinguished as the school’s highest scholar for two years, as well as a National Merit Scholar. At 16, Boer was admitted to Princeton, where he met his future wife. He enjoyed a lifelong relationship with Princeton, a place that imbued him with an appreciation of the power of higher education, and a bond that continued with his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren. Dr. Boer was very proud of his election to alumni treasurer and vice president of his Princeton class.

Dr. Boer was constant in his quest for knowledge, especially history, which he could learn, retain, and integrate across cultures, time, and space. He spoke five languages and traveled with his wife to more than 180 countries, including an annual trip with his family to remote and adventurous locales. He co-authored, The Grand Tourist, a trilogy of travel books, and self-published his final book, The Virtual Tourist, during the pandemic, about the few places he would likely never get to visit, except through Wikipedia and Google Earth.

Dr. Boer will be lovingly remembered as a kind, generous, and brilliant father and grandfather by his wife, children, and four extremely accomplished and talented grandchildren, whom he instilled with his love of travel, history, engineering, science, leadership, tennis, and ice hockey.

A private burial will be held in Danby Vermont, followed by a celebration of life at a later time. Dr. Boer’s family requests that donations in his memory be directed to the Nichols School in Buffalo, New York (www.nicholsschool.org) in gratitude for the invaluable foundation the school provided to a talented and curious young boy, enabling him to achieve his dreams in America.