 PETER MALCOLM DEWEES
Former Dean and San Francisco State University leader
Peter Dewees, who served as dean of the College of Extended Learning at San Francisco State University (SFSU) for 21 years under three presidents, died of bile duct cancer on May 28, 2012, at home in San Francisco, the city that he loved. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne Milligan Dewees, daughter Anne Dewees, son Michael Dewees, three grandchildren (Aaron, Madeline, Quinn), his brothers Michael and Christopher, and his sisters Diane Davenport and Lorin Dewees.
Dewees was born in San Mateo, California in 1935 to Malcolm Dewees and Margaret Blodget Dewees. He graduated from San Mateo High school in 1952, and attended several colleges before ultimately earning his undergraduate degree at Golden Gate University and his graduate degree at SFSU. His life as a part-time student, married father and full time worker strongly influenced his own later work in adult education.
Prior to his 35-year career at SFSU, Dewees worked in the advertising department of Westinghouse Electric apparatus division, then for a local export company, before returning to graduate school and taking an administrative position in 1966 at the former extension center of the university, then on Powell Street. The fit between this new work and his personal values was nearly perfect. Throughout his working life, he was active in the politics and movements which surrounded him in the city and the nation, volunteering in the JFK presidential campaign, then in Willie Brown's first assembly race, and on through the many campaigns for mayors, US Senator, State senator, supervisors and local neighborhood causes in North Beach, where he resided for more than 40 years. He was an early protester of nuclear arms proliferation and the war in Vietnam.
To move the campus to downtown SF was always his mission and his proudest accomplishments were those involved in delivering the university's classes to a working adult population. Twenty five years later, he retired, leaving SFSU with a 100,000-square-foot Downtown Center and 20,000 adult working students. He was instrumental in establishing the College of Extended Learning, and created strong ties with university faculty and curricula, as well as affiliations with community groups, businesses, non-profit organizations and city government. At one time, he estimated that he had helped create and launch at least 40 new certificates and other practical programs of study through active engagement with hundreds of faculty members and community practitioners, including Paralegal Studies, Human Resource Management, and the Music & Recording Industry certificate programs.
A Francophile, Dewees devoted much of his time after retirement to what he described as a lifelong pursuit of fluency in French language and culture, or "gradual studies", at the Alliance Francaise de San Francisco, where he became a familiar face in dozens of classes over the years. He was elected to the AF Board of Directors in 2006, then elected President, and served until September, 2008, having accomplished all the board had asked of him. Jazz was his music and piano was his instrument. He also supported the Opera, the Ballet, the Symphony, as well as San Francisco Performances. He served on the boards of the City Club of San Francisco, the SF Craft and Folk Art Museum, Performing Arts Workshop, Telegraph Hill Dwellers, and the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, as well as the Alliance Francaise.
He lived most of his life in San Francisco's North Beach, where he and his wife Jeanne shared an Edwardian flat with a view of Washington Square park for many years. They moved to Cathedral Hill in 2005, partly so he could walk to his French classes. According to his widow, Jeanne: " He became an 'Étudiant fidèle', enjoying his French grammar and literature classes as much as anything else he did." But that didn't replace his fondness for live jazz, nor for good food and wine shared with his family and friends.
"We traveled often to France and Italy, and in Paris we would rent an apartment for a month or two. We tried to get to know other parts of France as well. He knew more about the geography, neighborhoods and transportation systems of Paris than many of our Parisian friends, and he loved to plan expeditions and day trips with me each morning," she added.
Dewees suggested that those who wish to make a contribution in his memory consider the Alliance Francaise de San Francisco, 1345 Bush Street, SF 94109, and/or North Beach Citizens (a program for that neighborhood's homeless men and women) 720 Columbus Avenue, SF 94133.
The family has planned a Memorial gathering for July 1, 2012, at the San Francisco Maritime Museum, located at 499 Jefferson Street at Aquatic Park, San Francisco, from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on June 3, 2012
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