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Peter Carr Obituary
Peter was born in Toronto, Canada, the eldest of the three sons of Larry and Livia Caruana. He graduated from Scarlett Heights Collegiate Institute in 1977 and continued his education at the University of Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Master of Business Administration degree. He received a doctorate in finance from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1989.
Peter had a long, productive, and distinguished career as both a finance academic and industry professional. After beginning an academic career at Cornell University, where he spent eight years as an Assistant Professor of Finance, he left to join Morgan Stanley as a Vice President in 1996 and later Banc of America Securities as a Principal in 1999. He headed Bloomberg LP's Quantitative Financial Research group from 2003 to 2010, returning to Morgan Stanley as a Managing Director and Global Head of Market Modeling from 2010 to 2016. He returned to academia in 2016 as Chair of the Finance and Risk Engineering Department at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering. Widely regarded as a brilliant scholar – ranked among the top in the world in financial engineering, quantitative finance, derivatives, and volatility – he was also honored by the financial industry with Risk Magazine's Quant of the Year Award in 2003 and as IAQF/Sungard's Financial Engineer of the Year in 2010.
Beyond his many professional achievements, Peter will also be remembered for his kind and generous nature, his happy disposition, and his lack of pretension. He loved the Beatles, hockey, good food, and comfortable clothes. He was an enthusiastic adopter of "bleeding edge" technology, much to the annoyance of his family. He was passionate about all things mathematical, devoting time and energy to the National Museum of Mathematics, where he served on the board of trustees. He was a true friend to many and a cherished husband and father.
Peter is survived by his wife of 23 years, Carol Marquardt, and daughter, Olivia Carr, of Brooklyn, New York; his father, Larry Caruana of Laguna Hills, California; his brothers James Carr (Elaine Chu) of La Canada Flintridge, California and Laurence Caruana (Florence Menard) of Montenoison, France; sisters-in-law Geraldine Marquardt and Lois (Robert) Yogerst of Kewaskum, Wisconsin and Sandra (Thomas) Gudex of Lannon, Wisconsin; and brothers-in-law Sylvester Marquardt of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, Carl (Cindy) Marquardt, also of Kewaskum, and Herman Marquardt of Campbellsport, Wisconsin. Peter is further survived by 16 nieces and nephews; 7 great-nieces and nephews; a large extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins; and innumerable friends and colleagues. He will be greatly missed by all.
A memorial service will be held at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights at 11:00am on March 19, 2022. In lieu of flowers, please direct donations in Peter's memory to the National Museum of Mathematics (https://momath.org).
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Peter Carr
Karen (Infuso) Rankine
February 27, 2025
Peter's memory and spirit are still alive. When we encounter any Beatles' references, we think of Peter. I discovered an illustrated-colour drawing, poster size, of the Beatles' concert on the rooftop of Apple Corps. My husband and I thought of Peter and how he would have loved it framed and displayed in his home. We still remember Peter, his loves and interests, along with his impressive accomplishments to our friends and associates. His legacy lives on...
Alexey
December 24, 2024
First time i was in touch with Peter when i have read about his variance gamma model. I sent him an email asking questions and he got back to me with the answers and matlab code. Later on I have met Peter a couple of times when i lived in New York. He organized financial seminars in the NYU. I always remember him as a very smart and caring person. I am so sorry to hear that he is no longer with us.
Karen (Infuso) Rankine
March 1, 2024
From his childhood in the leafy neighbourhood of Etobicoke, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, Peter was always a considerate individual and fun to be with. He grew up continuing that legacy as a caring, intelligent, inspirational leader and treated everyone equally. He represented the best in his field and was highly respected all over the world. My husband and I continue to keep Peter's spirit alive.
Weiyu Wan
February 27, 2024
Peter was a great mentor. I will never forget his generous and kind heart. R.I.P.
Karen (Infuso) Rankine
December 12, 2023
Even though Peter graduated from Scarlett Hts. C.I. in 1977, I recently attended a 1976 SHCI reunion of about 30 people. The alumni I spoke with remembered Peter and one of them actually ran against him for Student Council Treasurer, but Peter won! Many alumni remembered Peter as being a brilliant student. I let them know just how far he went in his impressive career as being top in the world in financial engineering, quantitative finance, derivatives, and volatility. It was good to bring up Peter's name and remember him at this reunion. The alumni I spoke with mentioned, and I agree, that not only was he very bright, but he was also such a nice guy.
Elizabeth Sawyer
November 28, 2023
I am so sorry Carol and Olivia.
So much time has passed. He set up the blind date at which I met my husband, Eric. I always thought we'd see you again, when life wasn't so crazy. I miss, miss, miss you. With Love Betty Ann Walker
Umberto Cherubini
March 5, 2023
The Italian community of people who had the fortune to work with him is missing him even more than last year. So, we decided to join our forces and brains to get at least part of the strength and innovation he was sharing with all of us. We will meet in Bologna to celebrate him with our research. It will be the first meeting of what we called the Peter Carr Chapter Italy that I hope will accompany our future academic and physical life. The PCCI is of course an open set just like Peter was the most open person I have ever met in my life.
Karen (Infuso) Rankine
March 4, 2023
On March 1st, the one year anniversary of Peter's passing, my husband and I watched the memorial slide-show we created for Peter's Celebration of Life. In the past year we have mentioned Peter in our conversations... For example; "Peter would have loved that Beatles' Documentary"... or "Peter recommended that movie to us a while back". I am sure we all have our own way of remembering Peter and keeping his spirit alive.
Olympia Hadjiliadis
February 28, 2023
Peter was a great inspiration. A source of new ideas and an incredible brain.
Philip Ruffat
June 6, 2022
I met Peter at a seminar in Europe once, then again in New York at another derivatives conference. Interestingly enough we talked about music (piano). Very nice guy in a field not known for nice (and humble) people. Sorry to hear of his passing from NNT's twitter feed.
Teri Geske
May 7, 2022
I was (and am still) shocked and deeply saddened to learn of Peter's death. I knew him through UCLA Anderson and have always been a huge admirer of his giant intellect and knowledge, and his ability to explain complicated subjects so clearly. He was truly a luminary in the field.
But more importantly, I always thought of him as a warm, genuine, caring person, despite the fact that I only interacted with him on rare occasions. I was always happy to see Peter when he visited the Anderson School. He was always so kind to me (frankly, I was surprised that he remembered my name as there were so many others vying for his attention), stopping to chat with a genuine "good to see you, how are you?!" He was kind, funny, personable and unpretentious (which is notable in a field where big egos are so common).
Even though I did not know him well, I consider myself lucky to have known him at all. He made a big impression on me, in the best possible way.
I wish the family comfort in this time of tremendous grief.
Mike Piontek
April 23, 2022
So sorry for your loss, thoughts and prayers to you and your family.m
Gary Mlodzik
April 22, 2022
Carol, please accept my sympathy during this difficult time. Sorry for your loss. Your husband really sounds like an incredible man.
Cathy (Blum) Christensen
April 22, 2022
Carol I hope knowing I, and many others, are thinking of you and your family during this very difficult time brings you some small amount of comfort
Yi Tang
March 25, 2022
In Loving Memory of Peter P. Carr, Touched by Peter´s wisdom & warm heartedness, I last saw him at his enthusiastic & insightful presentation to PKU Alumni, a non-fading memory as fresh as yesterday...
Paul Clarke
March 23, 2022
My heartfelt condolences to Peters family. I knew Peter in high school. Peter and I were involved with the student council. He was treasurer...go figure. I always knew Peter would be accomplished in life, but perhaps his greatest acomplishment was, he was a really nice person, something that this world needs more of. A life well lived.
Warren Bailey
March 21, 2022
We all know Peter as the kind, intelligent, energetic, and unpretentious person we have enjoyed and loved for years and decades. From accountancy to finance, blending finance with mathematics, from academia to industry and back again, he has always taken on new challenges with curiosity and intensity. His willingness to serve NYU Tandon, his students, and their prospective employers as department chair is particularly impressive, ambitious, and conscientious. In recent years, I have enjoyed hearing Peter´s experiences and insights about his new home, Brooklyn. I will always imagine him jogging past the Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza, and, above all, the hill-and-dale and bronze monuments of Prospect Park, all places that I know well from my Brooklyn childhood. I have been lucky to know Peter for almost 40 years, and I will miss him terribly.
Olympia Hadjiliadis
March 19, 2022
I will never forget Peter´s drive on mathematical problems which was inspiring but most of all I will never forget his generous and kind heart
Lingjiong Zhu
March 18, 2022
I have known Peter for ten years. I first talked to Peter in the Fall of 2012 when I was still a PhD student at NYU Courant. Peter got interested in my research work, invited me to give a talk at Morgan Stanley and eventually hired me. I worked in his group for six months before getting back to academia. Since then I have kept in close touch with him and I usually Skyped with him on Sunday afternoon every other week or once a month. Peter stood out not only as an incredibly smart and accomplished researcher, but a very nice person, who did everything he could to help junior people. A few years ago, I had the honor of inviting him to visit FSU where he gave an excellent talk. In the summer of 2018, when Peter was visiting Shanghai, my hometown, I had the pleasure to treat him to lunch on two occasions. The last time I talked to Peter on Skype was in January. I kept thinking about him for the past two weeks. He was not only a great collaborator, but also a good personal friend. I still cannot believe that he is gone. I will miss him dearly.
Umberto
March 18, 2022
Working with Peter was like off-piste skying or climbing mountains. Lot of fresh air and great views. And a feeling of solitary pride looking down to the valley. Now I feel like the valley got me back. Thank you forever, Peter.
Christian Jauregui
March 18, 2022
I met Peter as a grad student in his Continuous-Time Asset Pricing course at NYU. His course was one of my utmost favorite courses throughout my entire academic career. I befriended Peter and connected with him about my future career aspirations and my interest in research I was interested in, as well as topics he was working on at the time. After his course concluded, he invited me several times to Morgan Stanley and we discussed research ideas and he shared advice on how to prepare for a PhD. We continuted to maintain contact even throughout my PhD studies.
It is heartbreaking to hear that he passed away. Peter was a wonderful and kind human being, as well as an inspirational and motivating individual. My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. May he rest in peace.
Tony Corso
March 18, 2022
I didn't find out about Peter's death in one of the old fashioned ways.
I didn't get a phone call from a mutual friend.
I didn't get a tap on the shoulder at the local pub with somebody saying "have you heard the news?"
It happened in a very modern way. It was a Google news alert.
So I did the modern thing we do, in these modern times, when we lose a friend of 20 or 25 years. I reread our last email exchange.
It was just before the holidays. Some crazy idea had come into my head. And so I wrote Peter an email. The subject line was:
... "Peter what did I just reinvent, reinvent badly"
And the very first sentence in the email he sent back was:
... "You didn't reinvent something badly. You rediscovered something, differently"
That sentence was pure Peter Carr.
Always, an initial bit of humor, followed by a bit of wisdom. ... Always generous with his time. Always willing to take the time to give you a little hint of how things work, so you wouldn't go down a blind alley. Always going out of his way to show you something that gave you that little "aha moment", that little epiphany, that caused you to say "oh that's how it works". Always kind. Not just a gentleman, but a gentle man.
Some 20 or 25 years ago I was introduced to Peter by a mutual friend. Peter and I were never work colleagues. I was never Peter's student. And yet, for the next 20 or 25 years, the two or three times a year I'd email Peter, he never once failed to offer me help. Whether it was via an email, or with notes scribbled on a napkin during one of our lunches, he would provide me with insight. He would set me straight.
How many of us are there, people to whom Peter was unbelievably generous with his time? How many of us are there in the tribe of "people Peter helped"? A hundred, two hundred, maybe a thousand?
However many of us there are, our lives were richer for having had Peter in it. And we are poorer, now that he is gone.
Requiescat in Pace, Peter Carr
Anand Srinivasan
March 17, 2022
Hi Carol, I met Peter at Cornell when I was a student in the Aerospace Engineering there. His guidance was absolutely critical in getting me into the Phd program in finance at NYU, from where I was able to become an academic in finance. I was always amazed at his ability (and desire) to continue publishing even after he went to Wall Street. He will be missed and continue to be revered by me and no doubt many of his other former students. My condolences to all of you.
Dave Marks
March 14, 2022
I didn't know Peter well, chatting with him only at the occasional conference or seminar over the years, but he was always a very warm, personable and interested soul, with a great sense of humor. Very sad to hear of his passing, condolences to his family and friends.
Pai Liu
March 12, 2022
He is an amazing financial practitioner, leader and mentor. I cannot express how grateful I am to be his student. Without his passion and help, I cannot be where I am now. I feel so heart-broken when hearing he passed away. Despite his left, his legacy will always exist in industry, school and our life trajectory. Rest in peace.
Eric Bruce
March 11, 2022
I met Peter at a NYU Quantitative Bootcamp. Besides the technical lectures, I was fortunate to get to talk to him 1-on-1. I enjoyed that very much as I got to meet the kind, warm and humble side of him.
Mike Klimek
March 8, 2022
My deepest sympathies to Peter's wife and daughter, as well as his brothers Jim and Larry and Mr. Caruana. I grew up with Pete and went to high school at Scarlett Heights with him. Many a night we would sit and play pool or ping pong in his basement, swim in their pool, or play road hockey on our local court. We played road hockey during all hours of the day in winter. One day I will always remember is when we played all the local jocks and athletes of the school. We were both rather nervous. As it turned out, we ended up beating them. I had the game of my life in net and Peter razzle-dazzled them with his footwork and stick-handling. I always knew Peter was going places even back then. He was always intrigued by math and figures. his various accomplishments are a testament to that. You were taken from this world way to early.
Rest in Peace my friend.
Nilsa
March 8, 2022
My heartfelt condolences to Peter's family. I met Peter when he joined Tandon in 2016. When he came to my desk while waiting to meet either Dean Sreeni or Dean Jelena, he always made me smile and laugh. He was witty and funny. Rest in peace. Nilsa
Jonathan Larkin
March 8, 2022
As a participant in the equity derivatives world, I studied Peter's work in detail. He was an extraordinary contributor to his field. I wish I had the chance to work with him directly. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. Rest in peace.
Michael Botlo
March 7, 2022
Peter was my first supervisor at Morgan Stanley when I started in spring 1996. His question and subsequent deliberations about 'Feynman-Kac' will forever be in my memories. During my first months at Wall Street he was the key coach to enable my subsequent path, I'll never forget.
Main regret is that I should have stayed in touch way more...
Claudio and Marina Tebaldi
March 7, 2022
Our deepest condolences to Peter's family. We will miss a genuine friend and the research leader he was.
(He whom the gods love, dies young)
Weiyu Wan
March 6, 2022
I am student of Peter. I first knew him even before I come to United States. I took a MIT OCW course of Mathematics Finance in 2015 and Peter was a guest speaker of this course. Although the content of this course was very complicate, Peter explained it in a very simple and easy understanding way which surprised me a lot. The first time I had a face to face speak with Peter was in a Morgan Stanley Campus Event. I did not have confidence in my tech skills and asked lots of question about the quant summer internship program and Peter encouraged me to have a try. The first time I had deep conversion with Peter was after he became the Dept. Chair of NYU Tandon MFE. Peter collected lots of feedback from current students and he promised our program will become better. Then in the next semester, Peter brought lots of very senior people into our program as adjunct professor. I learnt many hands on quantitative skills from them, which helped me find a full time job in NYC. Moreover, the rank of our program rank has changed from No.16 to No.7 in recent 5 years, which made every alumni very proud of it. I kept in touch with Peter after I graduated and almost saw him every week in Brooklyn Quant Experience (BQE) before the pandemic. One time he invited me to YASO TANGBAO for dinner after BQE. I showed him the correct progress to eat this special Chinese food. Peter asked my experiences in preparing quant interview and he told me these experiences should be very helpful for incoming students. Peter is a legend in quant realm. I benefited a lot from him. I not only gained academic skills but also learnt to be nice and share my knowledge with others. He will impact all my life."Peter, I will miss you and promise to make you proud. "
Elizabeth Bloxham
March 6, 2022
I would like to express my deepest condolences to all those who were fortunate enough to know/love Peter. I knew and hung out with him throughout high school and always knew he would soar to great heights which he did on
so many levels. I am shocked and deeply saddened by his passing and will cherish all the wonderful memories I have of him including a beautiful song he and Rob Wilson (Fab 5), wrote for my 17th birthday. His positivity, warmth and kindness will be missed. See you on the other side my friend.
Ke Huang
March 6, 2022
Professor Carr inspired me to be a pricing quant, I remember meeting him in a UCLA event on my first trip to NY in 2014 and later in a career event that year. He was kind, patient, and always listening to others as well as telling us anecdotes in the quant finance industry. I could never imagine and I have still not seen a second person at his level but being this modest and generous, even to a student who just began his quant study for nine months. He encouraged me to work more on option pricing as a graduate thesis. Only when I worked on those problems that he had thought about, then you will realize how insightful he was, including not limited to the characteristics functions, his transformation on option pay off, his own characterization of the American Put option, and the pricing model named after him.
I am deeply saddened by this loss too.
Andreas Lauschke
March 6, 2022
I encountered him as a unique expert-level combination of mathematical finance and C programming. He kindly gave me some of his papers and C codes for American options pricing. Competent, down-to-earth, and generous.
Doris H Patten
March 5, 2022
Carol, So sorry to hear of your husband passing away. May God give you comfort at this difficult time. Your cousin Doris Patten
HUGONNIER Julien
March 5, 2022
My deepest condolences. Peter has been an inspiration for me throughout my career and I am very saddened to see him so soon.
Karen (Infuso) Rankine
March 5, 2022
It was with deep sadness that I learned of Peter´s illness and passing. I have known Peter as my dear friend for over 45 years. Peter was 17 and I was 15 when we met at Scarlett Hts. We were part of the `Fab Five´ that included five close friends from Scarlett. We all went bowling together, movies, roller skating etc. or just chilling and listening to Beatles´ Albums. I consider myself extremely lucky to have had such a genuine friendship with Peter that has endured over the years. He helped me with my homework (usually math!), taught me how to drive and gave tips on how to navigate the `Jumble Puzzle´ and memorize words and numbers. It's no surprise that Peter became so successful in a math related career. Peter had a humbleness to him and yet he was fearless! We stayed in touch all these years and he would join my husband and me for dinners or bike rides along Lake Ontario if he happened to be back in Toronto giving a lecture or attending a conference. And he and Carol would take us to dinner and to Broadway shows when we visited Peter and his family in NYC. Indeed, Peter had a warmth and caring nature. He was kind, generous and upbeat. He was one of the best quick-witted jokesters! His laughter and comedic timing made Peter a complete joy to be with. His gracious imprint on this earth touched us all and we are all better having known him. Peter will be sorely missed by me and all those lucky enough to have known him.
Sam Signer
March 5, 2022
I met Peter when I first started teaching at Scarlett Heights and within a very short time he became one of my favourites. He enrolled in a course I had just created called Financial planning which was more like a mini stock brokers program, complete with a realistic stock market simulation, and he really took to it. His love of math drove him to explore and use the many statistical methods to predict stock movement and he excelled. I was fortunate to be able to touch base with Peter at the last SHCI reunion - I was unable to attend but he contacted me by email. I was very pleased and proud of all his accomplishments, but, it was no surprise. I am very saddened to hear that Peter has passed away. To his family - I share in your sadness. My heart goes out to you and to everyone who loved Peter.
He will be greatly missed.
Joseph Paperman
March 4, 2022
When I was at Cornell I got to TA for Peter and really enjoyed working with him. He was a brilliant academic and even more importantly just a heck of a nice and fun guy! There were many other great academics there but when it came to having a beer and talking about hockey Peter was the clear winner.
Robert Wilson
March 4, 2022
Peter was my best friend from age 12 to about 24 when he moved to California to attend UCLA in 1983. A life well lived and accomplished my old friend.
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