Peter Aptakinborn March 5, 1924, passed away Saturday, May 18, 2019. Service was held Monday, May 20, 2019 at 2:00 pm, at the Roth Center for Jewish Life, 5 Occom Ridge in Hanover.

As shared by Peter a few months ago:

I was born in a newly-built suburb of the Bronx, N.Y., and raised in our family's three-story apartment building with my father's grocery store on the first floor, our home on the second, and a rental on the third. I was the youngest, with a brother, Murray and sister, Harriet.

My mother was Jennie Axel, who was married to my father Samuel Aptakin.

I attended James Monroe High School and at 16 entered CCNY. On graduating I joined the U.S. Army Air Force during WWII as a bombardier instructor at Big Springs, Texas. After the war, I did graduate studies at Columbia University, getting a Masters Degree in International Affairs. I worked first for Ezequiel Padilla, former Mexican Foreign Minister, and then for Federico Stallforth, an international banker, both of whom lived in NY.

My next job was for the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia. There I was assigned to a research contract for the U.S. Air Force, which took me to Germany for a year, where I met Jean Eisenkoff. We were married in 1952 in New York City. We had two daughters, Karen and Margaret, and lived on the 14th floor of our apartment building in Manhattan. I was working for International Research Associates on the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building. From there I went to work at Life Magazine for nine years. Then I went to work for IBM, which I made my life's career.

IBM was headquartered in Westchester County, NY State. In 1966, our family moved to Pleasantville, NY. I did survey research for IBM, while Jean worked for the Reader's Digest as managing editor of their Condensed Books.

I enjoyed gardening and sailing on my 22-foot Columbia, named the Sea Lily.

I retired first, and when Jean did too, we moved to New England to be near our family. After we built our home in Hanover overlooking the Mink Brook Preserve, we lived six good years there before Jean died.

A few years later I had the great fortune to marry Marjorie Garthwaite Hammond. We have enjoyed some travel as well all that the Upper Valley has to offer. We've also kept up with our blooming and active families, which include my daughters and Marjorie's sons Andrew, Alex (Julie) and Martin (Nancy) Garthwaite, and her grandchildren Cole, Dylan, Emma and Abigail.

I took up weightlifting at CCBA with the Thor's Stone Athletic Club under the care and tutelage of Carl Wallin. I held the world's record for Bench Press and Dead Lift for my age and weight category, and made many friends.Jean and I have seven grandchildren: From Karen Stigler: Sam (Seema), Thomas and Charlie. From Margaret Tarmy: Henry (Moira), James (Andrew), George, and Zoe (Jamie). We have five great-grandchildren. From Sam: Noah; from Henry: Jack and August, and from Zoe: Wilder and Indigo.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover, NH.