Peter Ayer Tileston died peacefully with his family at his side in Palo Alto, Calif. on Nov. 15, 2012. He was 90.

Peter is survived by his wife of 62 years, Margaret; his son Bill and daughter in law Nancy; his daughters Peggy, Carol, Jackie and partner Kirk McCarthy; and grandchildren Katharine, David and Laura.

Peter was born on Jan. 14, 1922 in New Haven, Conn. to Dr. Wilder Tileston and the former Ethel Walker Smyth, and spent summers and holidays at the family home in Cataumet. He graduated from the Hotchkiss School in 1939, and spent three years at Caltech before he joined the Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war he received his B.A. from Yale University with Phi Beta Kappa honors.

When Peter was 19, he and his twin brother David and two friends completed an 11-week trip by canoe from Minneapolis all the way to James Bay in Canada. Much of the trip was on the Attawapiskat River. At the time the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had a fur trading post at the head of the river, had no record of any non-Native American descending the river.

Peter was a banker with the First National City Bank of New York (now Citibank). Almost all of his 34 year career was spent overseas. He met and married Margaret in the Philippines, where his children were born.

There he rose through management ranks to vice president in charge of much of Southeast Asia. After 19 years he transferred to India for two years, and then spent six years each in London and Paris as the bank’s senior representative to English and French banks.

After he retired, he and Margaret built a house near the end of Hines Point, and for 20 years they split their time between Martha’s Vineyard and California. Peter loved to play golf at Farm Neck, and he enjoyed writing numerous letters to the Gazette editor, usually on the subject of taxation. He spent the last 10 years in Palo Alto.

Peter loved golf, music (especially the big band era and opera), anything to do with the ocean, travel, poetry, philosophy, computers, a good conversation and a good glass of beer. He had a wonderful sense of humor and a keen interest in people and the world. His perpetual smile and gentle nature and the twinkle in his eye endeared him to those who knew him, and he is greatly missed by all.