Peter Dietze

1934 - 2019

Peter Dietze, formerly of Boulder, Colorado, died on January 4, 2019, in Eugene, Oregon. He was 84. He was husband of the late Betty Nan (Burdick) Dietze. He was the son of the late Annemarie Muenzel Dietze and the late Erich Dietze.

Peter was born in Erfurt, Germany on December 4, 1934. In 1950 he escaped from East Germany to West Germany where he lived until 1955. In 1955 he arrived in Manhattan at Pier 86 on the TSS New York. Henry Sagemueller, a distant relative living in Nebraska, sponsored Peter's immigration. Peter worked on Sagemueller's ranch from 1955 until the fall of 1956 when he started studying at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. In 1957 he transferred to the University of Colorado, graduating in 1959. Following graduation, he entered law school, graduating in 1962 and passing the Colorado bar that summer.

After clerking for one year in the office of U.S. District Judge Hatfield Chilson, Peter accepted a position as the assistant city attorney of Boulder. In 1965 he was appointed as city attorney, an office he held until 1968 when he entered private practice. In 1971 he, along with his friend and law school classmate Joel C. Davis, founded the law firm of Dietze and Davis. The law firm of Dietze and Davis, with seventeen lawyers, continues to offer legal services to a broad range of clients in the Boulder area and the West. Peter retired from active practice in 2017.

In addition to his law practice, Peter was an active member of the Boulder Rotary Club. He was a member at First Presbyterian Church, then at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church. He was an at-large elected member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents from 1978 until 1996, including chair of the Board for two one year terms. In 1998, the University bestowed upon him the George Norlin Award, which recognizes outstanding alumni who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence in their chosen field of endeavor and a devotion to the betterment of society and their community. In 2018, he was the recipient of the William Lee Knous Award, Colorado Law's highest alumni honor for his outstanding achievement and sustained service to Colorado Law.

He leaves behind his children, Jill and Mark Dietze of Eugene, Oregon; Karen and Rick Nelson of Rehoboth, Massachusetts; and Erika and Jim Fletcher of Austin, Texas; and his grandchildren, Pietro Gaudiano; Elena Clackner; and Anna, Megan, and Mark Fletcher. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Peter Dietze Scholarship Fund at the University of Colorado School of Law. https://giving.cu.edu/fund/peter-c-dietze-scholarship-fund