In Memoriam: Klaus Peter (1937-2011)

AMHERST - After a life lived with passion and tenacity in the face of a long illness, Klaus Peter died peacefully on Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, at Cooley Dickinson Hospital with his beloved wife Edith at his side.

In his life he touched many people who will miss their spirited, and sometimes heated, conversations with him about music, theater, dance, literature and politics. Like the classical and romantic intellectuals he admired, he led an existence in the interface of beauty, truth and ethics, and he led it fervently. His wife Edith shared these interests and often made the impossible happen for Klaus to be able to attend the many concerts, dance performances, plays and films they shared during their time together.

Klaus Peter was born on July 2, 1937, in Hanau, Germany, although his family later settled in Frankfurt am Main. He studied German literature, philosophy and history at the Universities of Munich and Frankfurt, receiving his Ph.D. from Frankfurt in 1965. During his formative years, he was selected to play clarinet with the Frankfurt Jugendorchester, and music remained an abiding passion.

Following in the path of one of his professors, Theodor Adorno (Frankfurt School), he found intellectual models that enabled him to combine his philosophical, political, ethical and esthetical beliefs into a coherent whole.

After serving as a literary editor for the Hessischer Rundfunk, he found his true calling in university teaching and scholarship. He began his career at the University of Kansas, but left to join the faculty of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1968, where he served as graduate program director for many years and as department head from 1986 to 1991. He developed an international reputation as an expert in the periods of the German Enlightenment, classicism and romanticism. His books and essays on the authors Schlegel, Lessing, Novalis and Kleist soon became essential to the academic discourse on these topics. He also published on various authors and topics concerning 20th century German culture.

His students remember him as a dedicated teacher who was able to share his enthusiasm and kindle interest in the topics they were discussing.

After his retirement, Klaus Peter had more time to devote to the arts. He and Edith took full advantage of local musical events, performances of all kinds in the Berkshires, and cultural weekends in Boston; as well as trips to Frankfurt filled with opera and theater. As his friends know, his vivid memory of the many performances and exhibitions he had experienced was extraordinary, but equally exceptional was his ability to articulate their individual characteristics and to discuss them in a comparative and cultural context.

He was also a patron of local artists, whose works hang on every wall of his house. Knowing Klaus was a multimedia experience for his friends. His passion enriched everyone he touched: students, colleagues, friends - we were all lucky to have known him.

Donations in his memory may be made to VNA & Hospice of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, 168 Industrial Drive, Northampton, MA 01060. A memorial will be scheduled at a later date.

Courtesy of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Oct. 27, 2011