Peter McCrae Ramsey

Peter McCrae Ramsey, a former banking executive who loved his wife and family above all but also travel, antiques and boating on the Chesapeake Bay, passed away peacefully at Bay Ridge of Annapolis on Thursday, June 8, at the age of 82. Peter spent the bulk of his professional life in public finance, where he helped issue municipal bonds that funded the expansion of airports, health care centers and other institutions. But while Peter was proud of his work, his real love lay with his family and the good life they lived on the mid-Atlantic seaboard, including Annapolis. Six decades afterwards, he could still remember what his wife, May Frances I'Anson Ramsey, wore when he first met her. "It was a blue tartan Scottish plaid skirt with a white blouse," Ramsey recalled of that encounter at a 1963 orientation meeting for University of North Carolina students planning a summer abroad. He and May Frances shared that trip together, and were married a year later in Portsmouth, VA. Peter was born in Philadelphia on April 10, 1941, the son of Dr. Russell and Elfreda Winant Ramsey, but grew up on the shady brick streets of their home in Winter Park, FL, near Orlando. After marrying May Frances, Peter worked for Virginia National Bank, and rose within its trust group. He then earned an MBA from Wharton School in Philadelphia and joined Smith Barney in early 1970, moving eventually into public finance in the Philadelphia office while he and May Frances raised three children and lived, among other places, in a memorable stone farmhouse in Devon that had been built in 1757. They later moved to Richmond and then Arlington, VA, as Peter headed successive public finance departments during the banking industry consolidation of the 1980s and 1990s. Peter retired in 2005, and the couple then moved to Edgewater, MD, from which they traveled even more extensively. Destinations included Morocco, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Israel, India, South America and South Africa, among others. But Peter says his greatest satisfaction came from the company of family and friends, many of whom had seen him recently. "Choose your friends well," he advised one of them not long ago, "because family and companions are the most important thing in life." Peter is survived by his wife May Frances; son Crae and wife Traci of Annapolis; son Russell and wife Serena of Novato, CA; daughter Sarah of New York; grandchildren Cameron and Margot of Annapolis; sister Cynthia Price of Bethesda, MD; and sister Pamela McKean of San Francisco, CA. The family wishes to thank the staff and residents of Bay Woods of Annapolis for their devotion and care.