Pete was born on December 17, 1941 in Winchester, Massachu-setts. He earned his BA at Dartmouth in 1963 and MA in Geography at UH and the East-West Center. While working on his Masters, he spent time in Indonesia researching volcanoes and Mt. Merapi in particular. He kept his interest in volcanic activity throughout his life and travelled to many active volcanoes around the world.

In the late 1960s-early 1970s, Pete worked in Irian Jaya, first with a United Nations Act of Free Choice group and later with a crew making a documentary on indigenous people. At one point he parachuted into a re-mote area and was eventually rescued by missionaries. He fell in love with Indonesia and spent his working career there with Bechtel, Fluor, and Brown and Root engineering firms. He was fluent in Bahasa Indone-sia and also knew some Dutch, Spanish, and French. Pete retired and re-turned to Hawaii in the late 1990s.
Flying (he was a private pilot), trekking, mountain climbing, sail-ing, scuba diving, golfing, and traveling to exotic places were some of Pete's favorite pastimes. He traveled to Cambodia, Alaska, Africa, Thai-land, Myanmar, Laos, Scotland, and Alotau in Papua New Guinea, just to name a few. His backpack never gathered any moss.

Pete was known for his curiosity, always searching and studying. He also loved to read everything he could on science, volcanoes, the envi-ronment, far away places, art, politics, and humor. He was interested in everything and pursued all of it.
Pete had the gift of openness, charm, and a smile that opened doors and won over hearts. He made instant friends wherever he went. He listened to everyone's stories, thoughts, ideas, and worries and went out of this way to help anyone he could. He understood and worked easily with people from diverse multicultural backgrounds. For these reasons, he was worldly and well connected to people not only through language but also through his character. With his smile and kindness, he could com-municate with people very well.
Family and friends will remember Pete with fondness when at the beach, swimming in the ocean, hiking, on trains, sailing, and having a couple of drinks and a good meal. His kindness, humor, and stories will stay with us always.

Pete is survived by his wife Rose Jennings, brother Steve Jen-nings, sister Susie Wilson, daughters Sandy Suradinata and Maile Pettit and son Joe Pettit, granddaughter, niece, nephews, and by friends around the world who will greatly miss his camaraderie and loyal friendship.