Peterson, Leonard Dean

Leonard Dean Peterson passed away peacefully on October 26, 2022 in the hospital after a series of events took a sudden turn to Sepsis. He was able to communicate and shared many loving moments and words before slipping away while holding both his daughter Lisa’s and son John’s hands up to his last breath. Leonard was 90, and was surrounded by 11 family members and many others on Zoom and cell phones in his last two hours for which we are all eternally grateful.

Leonard was born to Hilda (Oberg) Peterson and Inar Peterson, both immigrants from Sweden on May 27, 1932. He was the fourth of five children, and had two (late) brothers Willard Peterson and Harold Peterson, and has two sisters, Dorothy (Peterson) Vrungos and their youngest sister Linnea (Peterson) Levine, both of California. Leonard was born on the family farm 5 miles north of Creston Iowa where his family plans to gather, have a celebration of life and spread his ashes this spring to honor his wishes.

Leonard, or “Dean” as many knew him, was described as a kind-hearted and somewhat shy boy who took an interest in many things including math and how things worked. This led him to pursue an education at Iowa State University where he earned a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Math. He moved from Iowa to St. Louis County Missouri in 1966 where he spent the rest of his life. He spent his career working at McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) as an engineer and computer programer and also enjoyed teaching math and related courses part-time at Iowa State, UMSL, and Lindenwood College for many years.

Dean married in 1960 and had three children with his first wife Idelle (Johnson) Peterson. Their family included daughter Cindy Peterson-Dana, married to John Boddy with four children, Christopher Boddy, Zachary Dana, Jason Dana and Briana Dana of New York, their son John Peterson, his wife Heather (Browning) Peterson and their five children, Timothy Peterson, Ashlei Peterson, Jacob Peterson, Megan (Peterson) Lindemann and Melanie Peterson all of St. Louis and their youngest daughter Lisa (Peterson) Rumbolo married to John Rumbolo of Wentzville, Mo. and their children Dominic Rumbolo, Gina Marie (Rumbolo) Sarfaty and their youngest daughter Amber Rumbolo.

Dean met Helen Tan in 1984 and they married in 1990. Dean had a warm relationship with Helen’s two children, son Tom Tan, his wife Toni Tan and their children Nick and Grace Tan and Helen’s daughter Christine (Tan) Scully and her husband John Scully and their daughter Emma Scully. He also was a loving uncle, brother-in-law, cousin and friend to many others.

Dean was an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction. He loved in-depth discussions and was always interested in and concerned about environmental, political, philosophical and social concerns including worsening climate change, over-population and poverty. He volunteered as a Big Brother for many years, was interested in and an active member at both the Ethical Culture Society in Ladue, Mo. and Eliot Unitarian Church in Kirkwood over many decades.

Dean enjoyed visits from family and friends and had a good sense of humor. He enjoyed nothing more than family gatherings at local restaurants and he appreciated a wide variety of cuisines. He especially loved buffets, which may have reminded him of his earliest memories of his mother’s traditional “Swedish Smorgasbords” on the farm in Iowa. Dean was physically active all of his life and enjoyed walking, running and bicycling.

His family will miss his warm and kind presence in our world although his spirit will live on in each and all of us who knew him, shared time and interests with him and loved him.