South Street Seaport Museum Founding President Peter Stanford Passes Away

South Street Seaport Museum mourns the loss of its founding president, Peter Stanford, who passed away on March 24, 2016.

"Peter was a persistent man, endlessly insisting that the apparently impossible could be achieved. Peter's life and work have been written about extensively and the tale is a good one. For us, he will forever be the founder. It was Peter's vision in the 1960s that led to the preservation of the counting houses of the Seaport, including Schermerhorn Row, one of New York City's treasures. It was Peter's work that led to the acquisition and preservation of Ambrose, Wavertree, Peking, Pioneer, and Lettie. And it was Peter's clear articulation of the import of these things that led the fledgling South Street Seaport Museum to a membership of more than 20,000 within five years.

Today we celebrate his life and his achievements. We mourn the loss, but at the same time we carry on the work. Indeed, were it not for Peter and Norma Stanford - and for the legion volunteers, staff, and supporters who signed on to the voyage - we would have nothing left to preserve. And in that spirit we endeavor to carry out our duties as the caretakers of a fleet of historic ships and a cluster of historic structures. Behind the brick, under the slate roofs, upon the decks and entwined in the rigging of these buildings and ships is the very fabric of old New York.

Peter was confident that we will succeed in carrying on what he began. On many occasions he confided that he thought we - the staff, volunteers, and board of the Seaport Museum - were the right crew to carry the place forward. Not just to keep the ships afloat and the buildings intact, but to once again place South Street in the vanguard of historical, cultural, and educational organizations in the City. To use ships, streets, and collections to engage visitors, community, and students in the original port of New York.

We have much to do to be equal to Peter's expectations. But I share the confidence that he placed in us. The legacy of the South Street Seaport Museum lies in Peter's oft-repeated assertion that "this Museum is people." There, we are faithfully carrying on and offering the very best tribute to Peter's life's work."

• Captain Jonathan Boulware

Executive Director, South Street Seaport Museum

PETER STANFORD was founder, with his wife Norma, of the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan and later President Emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society in Peekskill, New York.

Peter grew up "Messing about in boats" since before he could remember. After serving in the U. S. Navy in World War II, he earned a BA with honors in history at Harvard and then sailed across the Atlantic as mate in the gaff cutter Iolaire to attend King's College, Cambridge, where he studied English Literature and received an MA (hons.). He then worked for over a year in a London bookshop while pursuing naval research at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

While in England he sailed in races to Norway, Holland, France and Spain. He was mate in the famous Myth of Malham when she won the stormy Fastnet Race on 1949, and in Minx, winning the La Rochelle Race that year. He sailed home as mate in the English yawl Bloodhound, which went on to win second place in the Bermuda Race of 1952.

Back in New York, Peter pursued a career in market research and advertising in the 1950s and 1960s. In these years he founded the Rutgers Reform Democrats Club and sailed his 25-foot sloop Whisper between Nova Scotia and Georgia. In 1964, he and his wife Norma were lucky enough to acquire the 43-foot schooner Athena, an historic vessel which later played a notable role in South Street Seaport and sail training.

In 1967 Peter and Norma quit their uptown jobs to found the South Street Seaport Museum, saving the 1812 buildings of Schermerhorn Row and other waterfront blocks, and bringing in two square-rigged sailing ships, a lightship, a fishing schooner and a tugboat as museum exhibits. As founder and president of the museum, Peter received awards from the National Park Service Foundation, Municipal Art Society of New York, the Parks Council of NY, American Institute of Architecture, and the Port Promotion Association of NY. Peter was also awarded a D. Litt. from the State University of New York Maritime college, Fort Schuyler.

After leaving South Street, Peter served as President of the National Maritime Historical Society and editor of its journal, Sea History. He was president of the World Ship Trust, London, and trustee of the Lilac Preservation Project and Working Harbor Committee of New York. He was an Advisor to the Tug Pegasus Preservation Project in NY and the Working Harbor Committee of NY and the National Liberty Ship Memorial in San Francisco.

In these and other projects he and Norma worked together as a team, and both enjoyed sailing and travel, particularly to England and Italy.

Peter was an optimist, a lover of humanity and a staunch defender of the defenceless. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, was jailed for helping integrate a "whites only" park in Maryland, and later, at South Street, he assisted in the creation of a marine-engine repair school for former teenage drug users, which Mayor Lindsay called the most effective of all the New York programs to find good employment for the young men.

He is survived by his wife Norma, his first wife Eva, his five children Thomas, Carol, Anthony, Robert and Joseph, and his grandchildren Nicholas, Luca, Kyan, Avani and Sarah Stanford. The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be sent to the South Street Seaport Museum and/or National Maritime Historical Society.

There will be a Memorial Service for Peter Stanford at Trinity Wall Street on Saturday, April 16at 2:30 pm, followed by a Reception at South Street Seaport Museum.