Peter Cartwright

It is with great sadness that we announce that Peter Cartwright passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in La Selva Beach, California on Tuesday, July 5, 2022. Pete lived a long and remarkably full life. He was born January 6, 1930 in Queens, New York, the son of “Cal” and Kay Cartwright. He graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and received his master’s degree in engineering a year later from Columbia University. He married his high school sweetheart, June Doeg and shared their married life for 60 years. Together they traveled much of the world. Pete enlisted in the Navy after his studies and lived in Malta for two years with his budding family. Later the family moved to India and Japan where Pete worked as a senior engineer for General Electric. The family returned to the US making California their permanent home. Pete and June loved the ocean and found their dream house, which was designed by their daughter, in La Selva Beach overlooking the Pacific. They instilled a love of the ocean and respect for the natural world in their four children. Pete was an avid sailor, and when he wasn’t sailing he crafted meticulous wooden boat models.

Pete believed wholeheartedly in taking care of the environment and saw his role as a custodian of the natural landscape for future generations. He started the independent power company, Calpine for which he was the CEO for many years. With his professional team, he pursued a clean energy policy, a highlight being the environmentally based the Geysers Geothermal plant. He was a long-time benefactor of the community organizations. He was a member of the Sierra Club, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a board member of the Santa Cruz Seymour Marine Discovery Center, and served as a member of the Dean’s Council of UC Santa Cruz Division of Physical & Biological Sciences. As an active supporter of the arts, he was a founding board member of Symphony San Jose, and worked with many other civic organizations in California.

Pete was an amateur historian, voracious reader, and was also a talented photographer and writer of short stories and sea themed poems. Pete is predeceased by his wife June and his son Richard. He is survived by his sister, Jane Kelly of Tampa Florida, his daughter, Virginia Cartwright, and her husband James Tice, of Eugene Oregon, his daughter, Barb Cartwright of La Selva Beach, and his son Eric Cartwright and wife Ann, and their children, Ethan and Kaitlin of Pleasanton. He leaves behind his dear friends Sephy Flores, Noemy, Rich and Jazalyn Piña, Mayra Flores and Tahtiana Flores.