Peter Ghee, a longtime Chilmark summer resident and maritime lawyer, died this winter at home in New York. He was 79.

Peter was enamored with the beauty of the Vineyard for most of his life. In the 1940s, his grandmother brought him to the Bluffs. Later during the war, his mother saved precious fuel rations to drive the family to the colored cliffs of Gay Head. And when he brought his wife Greta and three children to the Vineyard for the first time in 1966, they came every summer thereafter. The family finally built a summer home in Chilmark in 1979.

Harvard educated, Peter worked most of his 50-year career as assistant general counsel for Mobil Oil. He was an expert in ship financing and following the Torrey Canyon disaster of 1967, the first large tanker oil spill, he brought together two cooperatives of prominent international oil companies. His aim was to ensure that no oil company would go under in a lawsuit involving a spill, unless there was willful violation of the law. The groundbreaking charter to voluntarily finance the cleanup of tanker spills stood in place for 20 years until it was replaced by international treaties and legislation. After retiring from Mobil, he joined the firm of Waesche, Scheinbaum & O’Regan in New York and enjoyed collaborating with longstanding colleagues and continuing to work on maritime cases.

This global oil executive was no naturalist, yet he could be described as a tree hugger of sorts. The few times Peter was pressured to put down a history book and go for a hike, he wore his loafers with long socks; when he swam, it was like a slow moving bulwark being submerged; he couldn’t even be counted on to sniff a flower, but for some reason Peter had a knack for growing trees. Forty years ago, he headed a committee of volunteers that planted ginkoes and London plane trees on his street in lower Manhattan, where in his way he tried to replicate the breathtaking effect of the North Road canopy he adored. The true evidence of his extraordinary green thumb came about one warm Chilmark day 15 years ago when he discovered a hearty shoot emerging from a peach pit tossed in the compost pile. He transplanted it as best he could and today it stands 12 feet tall and yields an abundance of delectable fruit. Whether an achievement or a force of nature, no one was more surprised and delighted than he.

After Greta Ghee died, Peter assumed some of her community leadership responsibilities, chiefly a commitment to the staff of the Yard and their programs. He gained a deeper level of appreciation for contemporary dance, enjoyed engaging with the extraordinary artists drawn to the colony each summer and became a dynamic fixture at fund-raising events.

He worked hard, cherished family, enjoyed his life and was always ready to include everyone in the fun. Typical of his nature, he kept his terminal illness to himself and enjoyed family and friends every day until the last.

Peter was married to the late Greta Ghee for 45 years. He is survived by his daughters, Annette, Aileen and Margaret, who will bury his ashes this summer next to Greta’s on Abel’s Hill.

In honor of his memory, donations to the Yard will be gratefully accepted. The address is P.O. Box 405, Chilmark, MA 02535.