Peter Pouncey

CANAAN - On May 30, 2023, Peter Richard Pouncey passed away at the age of 85 after a life well lived at the nursing home at Geer Village in Canaan, Connecticut.

He was born to Cecil and Eugenie Marjorie Pouncey on October 1, 1937, in Tsingtao, China, where his father worked as the British commissioner of maritime customs. World War II separated the family, but after many months apart, the Pounceys reunited and returned to England. Peter finished his schooling there and went on to attend the University of Oxford, earning a BA in classics in 1964 and an MA in 1967 from Campion Hall. After leaving Oxford, Pouncey accepted a teaching position at Fordham University in New York. While there, he completed his PhD in Classics at Columbia University, eventually joining the department as an assistant professor. In 1980, he published his first book, The Necessities of War: A Study of Thucydides' Pessimism. A true academic, also Peter served as the Dean of Columbia College from 1972 to 1976. In 1984, he left Columbia to become the President of Amherst College, where he served for 10 years. After his tenure there, Peter returned to teaching at both Amherst and Columbia.

In 2005, Pouncey published his first novel, Rules for Old Men Waiting, which went on to win the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Peter is survived by his three children, Christian Pouncey, Maggie Pouncey, and Emily Liebert; their spouses, Victoria Pouncey, Matt Miller, and Vlad Kobzar; his grandchildren, Eliza Pouncey, Felix and Dominic Miller, and Henry and Louise Kobzar.