In Memoriam: Peter Michael Gladhart

Winegrower and founder of Winter's Hill Estate Winery

Peter Michael Gladhart was born in Spokane on March 25, 1940. His family (parents Ruth and Russ, and younger sister Mary) later moved to Veradale, where he attended school K-12 and graduated from Central Valley High School. He studied literature at Reed College, joining the Peace Corps after his graduation in 1962.

As a volunteer in Ecuador, he met and married Emily Winter. In the town of Mira, the two advised the 4-H Club, worked with Heifer Project, and organized a highly successful sweater-knitting co-op that provided significant income and business opportunities to local women. Ecuador would remain an important place for Peter throughout his life, professionally and personally; he returned for several extended research trips and numerous shorter visits.

In 1966, Peter and Emily left Mira for Dryden, New York. Peter pursued graduate studies at Cornell University and their children Amalia and Russell were born. After he completed his PhD, they moved to East Lansing, where Peter joined the faculty in Human Ecology at Michigan State in 1972. Over the next eighteen years, Peter researched, taught and mentored students in the areas of home energy use, international development and personal finance. Peter and Emily moved to Oregon in 1990, planting grapes on land Emily’s parents had purchased in the early 1960s and built Winter’s Hill Estate Winery with their son Russell. In semi-retirement, Peter maintained a large vegetable garden, practiced clarinet and piano, and continued to review research proposals for national foundations.

Peter was a versatile musician, lover of poetry, reader, scholar and woodworker. He was active in environmental and social justice causes. He enjoyed tinkering and fixing, and he relished the hands-on management of the vineyard. An attentive and supportive grandfather, Peter loved sharing hiking trips, woodworking projects and music with his grandchildren. He developed lasting relationships in each of the places he lived, friendships he treasured to the end of his life.

Donations in Peter’s memory can be made to Heifer International Project, www.heifer.org.