Theodore A Peck Jr. (Ted) of West Windsor died May 5. A memorial service will be held Saturday June 23 at 4pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.
Ted was an artist, writer, activist, and a programmer from the early days of computers.
He was born in 1924 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew up in Charlotte and in Alexandria, Virginia. He received a degree in mathematics from the University of Virginia in 1944, and was a member of the Raven Society and Phi Beta Kappa. After working with the US Navy in Washington as a civilian, he enlisted in the US Army and served in Okinawa in 1946 and 1947, and later also at Fort Campbell KY, Aberdeen MD, and in Toledo Ohio.
From 1949 through 1953 he attended the Art Students League of New York. In 1953 he began work as a “computer” of geodesic calculations at the Army Map Service in Washington DC. He met his future wife Mary Sill there where she was part of the calculators pool.
In 1956 he began his career as a computer systems analyst with a position as field technical representative for IBM, with assignments in the Pentagon and the Navy Annex. Subsequently he accepted positions with Honeywell, RCA, Applied Data Research, and Mainstem. From 1975 through 1995 he was employed by Sedgwick Publishing Services of Princeton.
Ted was active in the Unitarian Church of Princeton, where he served as chairman of the Social Concerns Committee from 1970 through 1972 and as secretary of the Board of Trustees from 1973 through 1975.
He was appointed to the West Windsor planning board in 1966 and won election to the West Windsor Township Committee in 1972.
He was a founding member of Thresholds of Central New Jersey, a group which taught decision making techniques to prison inmates. He was also active with the Conservation Coalition of Princeton which pioneered the recycling movement, and with the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and the anti-nuclear SEA alliance.
He lost his wife of 37 years, Mary Sill Peck, to cancer in 1990.
In 1998 he married Elizabeth Murray, now Elizabeth Peck, his wife of 20 years.
Ted shared with Elizabeth a passion for painting and the arts. Each January they jointly organized an art and poetry show at the Unitarian Church and for many years Mr. Peck would organize and lead a tour of galleries, often in SoHo, New York City.
In recent years Ted participated in the Unitarian play reading group, a ROMEO breakfast club (Retired Old Men Eating Out), and delighted in attending the creative writing program at the West Windsor Senior Center through April of this year. Along with his wife Elizabeth, he served on the West Windsor Democratic Committee and as a poll worker.
He is survived by his wife, four sons, and seven grandchildren. His sons are Theodore A Peck III (Trey), Frederick Sill Peck (Fred), Arthur Merriman Peck (Art) and Christopher Mount Peck (Chris). His grandchildren are Hannah Peck, Sam Peck, Godwin Peck, Matthew Peck, Nathen Peck, Alexandra Peck, and Forrest Peck.
Ted had made it known that he would like any memorial contributions to be made to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.
