S. Peter Law

AMESVILLE — S. Peter Law, a longtime resident of Rowayton, Conn., passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday, June 26, 2020, at the age of 93 at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer Law and Alan Lovejoy of Amesville, with whom he had lived since 2015. 

He was befriended by many and spent his final years sitting on the porch and watching the chickens and clouds, drinking martinis and eating ice cream, including his last day. 

Peter was an insurance executive, an avid tennis player, a husband, father and grandfather, a community advocate and a good and loyal friend. 

Peter, the son of Louis Law and May (McIver) Law, was born in Rome, Italy, on March 30, 1927, and, though a British citizen until his 20s, was raised in Great Neck, N.Y., along with his older siblings, John and Margaret. Peter attended the Choate School and later Princeton University with a hiatus in the British Royal Navy in 1945. He met his future wife, Anne Paul, in New York City, and they were married on Oct. 2, 1954. 

After a stint in Hartford, where Peter got his start in insurance, Anne and Peter moved to Rowayton in 1959, and Peter worked in New York for the rest of his career. Their stucco home on Jacob Street, a former barn that was converted in 1919, was the focus of their life for more than half a century. Anne and Peter raised four children there, beginning with Stephanie in 1955, and followed by Jennifer in 1957, Hilary in 1961 and Anthony in 1964.

Peter worked in risk management for over four decades. His time at Aramco afforded him several eye-opening trips to Saudi Arabia. At USI, a large conglomerate, he devised the then-novel solution to self-insuring workers’ compensation coverage by creating a captive insurance company in Bermuda, the first of its kind for casualty insurance. 

He later lent the same expertise to the national board of Planned Parenthood, founding and serving for many years on the board of their Bermuda captive, PPIC, allowing them to self-insure their numerous local facilities. It was this work for which he felt the most proud. He worked for many years at Schlumberger, and retired from there in 1994. 

Peter was a volunteer in a number of community-based projects and organizations. He helped lead the fight against Continental Can moving its headquarters to the former Thomas School site on Highland Avenue, which led to a position as a city commissioner (street lights and trash collection!), and to serving as a long-time board member of the Norwalk Land Trust. He served on the board of Roton Point, where he played tennis at every opportunity. He was a volunteer at the Norwalk Maritime Center for 18 years. And for 48 (!) years he played the role of the Prophet Isaiah (“Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people saith your God …”) in the annual Rowayton Christmas Pageant. 

Peter’s passions were tennis and progressive politics. He was a devoted player at Bayley Beach, Roton Point and the Rowayton Paddle Tennis courts (of which he was a founder) in winter, even attending the year-end USTA National Championships at the Senior 4.0 level, the dream of many club players. He was a daily reader of the New York Times, and a frequent watcher of the PBS NewsHour. He also contributed to practically any charity that asked him, over 100 per year.

Peter is survived by his four children; seven grandchildren, Eric, Jeremy, Hannah, Molly, Hazel, Eleanor and Oliver; his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jonathan and Gayle Paul; his niece and nephews, David and Peter Kemp, John Law and Victoria Paul Nelson; and his godson, Jeff Hamill. 

Peter’s life will be celebrated with bagpipes and a gathering of friends and family at a future date when it is safe to do so.  

For those interested, donations may be made in Peter’s memory to  Planned Parenthood at www.plannedparenthood.org or The Norwalk Land Trust at www.norwalklandtrust.org. 

Condolences may be sent to the Law Family, 18 Sugar Hill Road, Falls Village, CT 06031.