David West Peterson

1940 - 2025

David West Peterson
Born: October 3, 1940 in Schenectady, NY
Died: November 3, 2025 in Peoria, IL
Princeton - David West Peterson passed away on Monday, November 3, 2025, at OSF St Francis Hospital in Peoria, IL. He was born on September 3, 1940, in Schenectady, New York, the second of three children of Marion F. and Harold A. Peterson. The parents of his bride-to-be lived nearby then, and were friends with Marion and Harold.
The family moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 1946, where David grew up. He attended Madison West High School and the University of Wisconsin program in Electrical Engineering from which he graduated in 1962. David went on to obtain MS and PhD degrees in EE in 1963 and 1965, respectively, from Stanford University. He had married his best friend, Judith Schnaitter, at the end of 1961, and their son Eric was born at the time David finished at Stanford.
David joined the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1967 and was assigned to the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, working at the Institute for Exploratory Research. David and Judith's second child Karl, born at the Fort Monmouth Hospital. After two years of service, David transitioned from Army Captain to private citizen and joined the faculty at the Northwestern Graduate School of Business in Evanston, Illinois.
In 1971 David, Judith and family moved for a year to West Berlin, West Germany, for David to accept an appointment at a German sponsored management research institute based there.
A year after returning to Northwestern, David accepted a professorship at Duke University, which was starting a graduate program in management, so the Petersons moved again, this time to Durham, North Carolina. While at Duke, David transitioned from the Business School to the Statistics Department. He also started a consulting firm to help meet the needs of attorneys engaged in litigation who had discovered a need for statistical assistance. David eventually left Duke to run this firm full time. It was working on attorneys' projects within this firm that David derived his greatest professional satisfaction.
Eventually, David sold his firm and retired. For a few years thereafter, he and Judith ran a tree farm in rural North Carolina growing loblolly pines. Then they discovered and acquired the unoccupied and derelict Austin Bryant house a few miles south of Princeton, Illinois, and Judith set about overseeing its repair. Ultimately the house was so attractive that David and she moved there. Austin Bryant, who built the house, was David's third great grandfather. David was interested in the Bryants' story and became active in the Bureau County Genealogical Society. His interests spread to the Princeton Theater Group and the Bureau County Historical Society.
David leaves his wife of 63 years, Judith Schnaitter Peterson; son Eric West Peterson of Chapel Hill, NC, son Karl David Peterson, his wife Sophia Tsanos, and their dog Stormy of New York City, NY; Eric's son Caspar Joyce Hadek Peterson, his wife Milica Vulin, and their infant son Julian Aleksandar Peterson of Vienna, Austria. In addition, David leaves a brother, Gilbert Moseley Peterson of Madison, WI.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, December 6, 2025 from 1:00-3:00 pm at Norberg's Memorial Home, Inc. All are invited to share their memories of David.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Second Story Teen Center, Princeton, IL.
Online condolences may be directed to www.norbergfh.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to Norberg Memorial Home, Inc. & Monuments.