Peter M. Keller
April 15, 1946 ~ November 25, 2022
Peter Keller, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and brother, passed peacefully on November 25, 2022, at his home in McLean.
Born in Würzburg, Germany on April 15 1946, Peter loved sailing, travel, and family celebrations. He earned economics degrees at the University of Würzburg and a PhD at University of Rochester, and went on to work with the International Monetary Fund for 31 years as a division chief and assistant director, overseeing the economies of the former Soviet Union. His time at the IMF included posts in Manila, Philippines (where daughter Sasha was born) and Paris, France, a thrilling experience for the whole family. His work also focused on and took him to Turkey, Nepal, Tanzania, Ghana, Guyana, the Maldive Islands, Estonia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, among others. He retired as Assistant Director of the Middle East and Central Asia department in 2005.
Peter and Rosemary Tripp met at Rochester, married in 1974 surrounded by American and German family, and traveled the world together. They enjoyed adventures on the high seas around the globe and in calmer waters on the Chesapeake Bay, and have lived in McLean VA for 40 years. Though he lived in the US, Peter loved visiting family in Germany and sharing his love of its culture, history and food with all.
Peter is survived by Rosemary, daughters Elizabeth (of Boston MA and Charleston SC) and Sasha (of Edinburg VA, with husband Jeremy), grandchildren Brody and Skylar, brother Bernd and extended family in Germany. We will dearly miss him, his corny jokes, encyclopaedic knowledge of history, pursuit of excellent food and drink, and warm smile.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for Friday, December 9 at 11:00am at St. John’s Episcopal Church in McLean.
In lieu of flowers his family invites donations in his memory to Doctors Without Borders.
Born in Würzburg, Germany on April 15 1946, Peter loved sailing, travel, and family celebrations. He earned economics degrees at the University of Würzburg and a PhD at University of Rochester, and went on to work with the International Monetary Fund for 31 years as a division chief and assistant director, overseeing the economies of the former Soviet Union. His time at the IMF included posts in Manila, Philippines (where daughter Sasha was born) and Paris, France, a thrilling experience for the whole family. His work also focused on and took him to Turkey, Nepal, Tanzania, Ghana, Guyana, the Maldive Islands, Estonia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, among others. He retired as Assistant Director of the Middle East and Central Asia department in 2005.
Peter and Rosemary Tripp met at Rochester, married in 1974 surrounded by American and German family, and traveled the world together. They enjoyed adventures on the high seas around the globe and in calmer waters on the Chesapeake Bay, and have lived in McLean VA for 40 years. Though he lived in the US, Peter loved visiting family in Germany and sharing his love of its culture, history and food with all.
Peter is survived by Rosemary, daughters Elizabeth (of Boston MA and Charleston SC) and Sasha (of Edinburg VA, with husband Jeremy), grandchildren Brody and Skylar, brother Bernd and extended family in Germany. We will dearly miss him, his corny jokes, encyclopaedic knowledge of history, pursuit of excellent food and drink, and warm smile.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for Friday, December 9 at 11:00am at St. John’s Episcopal Church in McLean.
In lieu of flowers his family invites donations in his memory to Doctors Without Borders.
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My colleague, my friend, and my sailing buddy has moved to eternal seas. On land, we traveled in exiting places, both professionally and outside work. Our boss in the IMF -John Odling-Smee-writes in his recent book about a Minister of Finance in one of our countries who used to swing a parabellum pistol in front of him while discussing the country’s economic policies. I can just add that Peter was able to warn him in advance that the Minister is not going to shoot as Peter and I had experienced this presentation before. On sea, one of the highlights was sailing through the world’s biggest naval base in Norfolk, VA. Dressed in a Kyrgyz tribal leader’s gold-decorated long robe and a pointed felt hat, it looked like Tsingis Khan and Manas (the Kyrgyz national hero) were about to take over the Norfolk Naval Base. Admittedly, we had encouraged ourselves with a sailor’s rum drink before entering the area. And we left quickly when we saw a rib boat approaching fast with a machine gun in the bow to make sure that nobody will sail too close to the war ships!
Fair winds, my friend … see you in a while!
Tapio Saavalainen
Beloved Dad and Opa?
RIP Pete.
I knew Peter as a stalwart member of the St John’s Missions Committee. In that role, Peter was a spirited advocate for improving the lives of women and girls world-wide. This was so in keeping with who he was as a professional and, most of all, as devoted husband to Rosemary and a proud father and grandfather.
Peter, (or Mr. Keller, as he was to me) was a major figure in my life growing up, spending so much time at the Keller-Tripp house. His work and travel seemed so exotic and mysterious (we knew way more about Uzbekistan and Tajikistan than any other 9 year olds we knew) and he always had a joke for us, or a fact about Germany, as we were running through the house.
One of my favorite memories of Mr. Keller was the time he agreed to accompany his 13-year-old daughter (Sasha) and best friend (me) to see Titanic in the theater. It wasn’t the first time Sasha and I had seen it, so in the car on the way there we warned him just how devastating this movie was – to which he shrugged that that was absolutely silly and it couldn’t possibly be that sad.
When we got to the theater, he ever so kindly sat in the row behind us to make us feel like we were there on our own, without a chaperone. When we got into the rough part of the movie, we started hearing sniffling coming from somewhere behind us. It continued, progressively getting louder and louder, and by the time we turned around and realized it was him, it had turned into full-blown weeping! He was caught!
As we left the theater, all sniffling together, (and after a joke that he had only been crying because the movie was so bad) he finally accepted defeat that we were right. We still bring that day up 25 years later.
I’ll miss you, Mr. K.
Q: What was Peter really good at?
A: Peter”s “Finest Hour,” in terms of ready participation in the Outreach work of St. John’s, actually conducted over 6 – 7 years, was his work with our Millennium Development Goals Committee effort. Our Committee attempted to fit individual U.N. development goals of that period to needs in one or more foreign countries, and then educate our people and raise the funds to assist. Peter’s credentials – lengthy IMF experience, extensive world travel, and a very lively mind – fit superbly into the needs and policy work of this committee, which I had the honor of chairing. I didn’t always agree with his policy positions, our discussions were lively at times, but his presence and participation very much helped to ensure that our proposals were fully vetted and as sound as we could make them. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Jack Hannon
McLean