Landon Peters Enjoyed Sailboat Racing, Tennis

Landon Peters, retired banker and investment advisor, died April 9 in Princeton, N.J. He was 75. The cause was a cerebral hemorrhage.

He was born in Montclair, N.J., on April 7, 1930. Landon graduated from Governor Dummer Academy in 1948 and Princeton University in 1956, as a member of the class of 1952. He served in the United States Air Force during the Korean Conflict from 1951 to 1955. He joined the Bank of New York as a securities analyst, retiring after 25 years as executive vice president and treasurer. He was a senior manager of the YMCA retirement fund from 1982 to 1986 before joining the investment firm of Delafield, Harvey, Tabell from 1986 to 1991. He was a director of both the Adams Express Company and Petroleum and Resources Corporation from 1974 until the present. He joined the Seeing Eye Board of Trustees in 1971, served for 30 years and was awarded the Buddy Award at his retirement for outstanding service.

He was the son of Claude Landon Peters and Emily Meyer Peters. Landon had long family ties to the Vineyard. His maternal grandmother, Louise Underhill Meyer, first came to Oak Bluffs in the 1870s. She and her husband, Henry C. Meyer Jr., summered for many years at the Tashmoo Inn and the Colonial Inn and later purchased the Valentine Pease home at 72 North Water street in 1927. This home is still owned by his sister, Lorna Garron. Landon spent his summers at his grandparents' home. He learned to sail on their cat boat, the Seminole, which was captained by Oscar Pease. Landon and his cousin, Tony Meyer, raced their Rover, the Huron, winning the July and August series and Commodore's Cup in 1949 and other prizes at the Edgartown Yacht Club.

Landon married Florence (Pete) Lamborn, also of Montclair, N.J., in 1952. They began to spend their summers at Pohogonot Farm, her Flynn family home. They stayed there every summer from 1955 until 1989 when they moved into the home they built at Short Point, property adjoining Pohogonot. Landon was fond of gardening, mowing fields and home repair at the Cabin and Short Point, often enlisting his sons or Pete's cousins in painting and other projects and sailing on Oyster Pond.

He later raced his Symra No. 30, the Paqua, in the Edgartown Yacht Club races for several years in the late 1960s. There is a picture in Alfred Eisenstaedt's photo book of Martha's Vineyard of the Paqua with spinnaker set entering Edgartown harbor with other contestants at the end of a race. Later he purchased a Nonesuch, the Seminole, with Tony Meyer and sailed that for several years. Landon was a member of Pretty Brook Tennis Club, the Springdale Golf Club, the Nassau Club, the Edgartown Yacht Club and the Edgartown Reading Room.

Landon is survived by his wife of 53 years, Florence Lamborn Peters; four sons, Eric Peters and Eileen Murphy of Vineyard Haven, John and Sarah Peters of Vineyard Haven, David and Carol Peters of Hopewell, N.J. and Christopher and Kathryn Peters of Dallas, Tex.; his sisters, Lorna Garron of Weston, Sheila Peters of Mesa, Ariz. and Marion Peters of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and five grandchildren, Nathaniel, Molly, Emily, Caroline and Lorna Peters. He was predeceased by his son, Michael, in Jan. 1962.

A memorial service was held on Tuesday, April 12, at Trinity Church, Princeton, N.J. A memorial service is planned in Edgartown at a later date. Contributions in his name may be made to the Vineyard Open Land Foundation Cranberry Bog Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 4608, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 or to the Martha's Vineyard Boys' and Girls' Club, P.O. Box 654, Edgartown, MA 02539.