Necrology

Camillo Frederick Petri '39

May. 13, 1916-May. 20, 2006

Camillo Frederick Petri ’39, a retired insurance company administrator, was born on May 13, 1916, in Boston, MA. A son of G. Hector and Gertrude Bement Petri, he entered Hamilton in 1935 from Brookline, after preparation at the Belmont Hill School in Belmont, MA, and Wassookeag School in Dexter, ME. Adept on skis since boyhood, “Cam” Petri, also known as “Pete,” joined the College’s ski team and became treasurer of the Ski Club. A member of Sigma Phi and elected to Quadrangle, he was also active in the Camera Club and served as art editor of The Hamiltonian.

Soon after receiving his B.S. degree in 1939, Cam Petri entered the insurance field. He was employed by a life insurance company in Michigan when, on June 20, 1942, he was married to Barbara Grinnell in New Bedford, MA. He subsequently began his long employment with the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Boston, first in claims and later in administration. He retired for reasons of health in 1979.

In 1986, Cam Petri moved from Weston, MA, to Castine, on Penobscot Bay in Maine, where he became an active member of the community’s Historical Society, Golf Club, and Episcopal Church. In Castine he continued skiing, gardened, and did watercolor painting to his heart’s content, often recording on canvas scenes along the coast and the flowers from his garden. He was an accomplished painter and his works were exhibited in many shows in Boston as well as locally.

Surrounded by his family, Camillo F. Petri died on May 20, 2006, a week after his 90th birthday. He was a loyal alumnus and onetime president of the Eastern New England Alumni Association. Predeceased by his wife in 1989, he is survived by three sons, Mark S., Frederick G. ’68, and Matthew D. Petri; a daughter, Daphne B. Petri K’72; and 11 grandchildren and a brother.

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