Longtime techie was big-time arts patron

Gerry Peterson, 90, owned a communications firm and gave generously to local arts groups

By Bill Morem

Gerry Peterson

MEMORIALTODAY

A memorial for Gerry Peterson is set for 10 a. m. today at the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly. The program will include vocal ensembles, as well as violin and guitar solos and duets. The public is welcome.

Gerry Peterson, an innovator in cellular communications who parlayed his success into volunteering and donating to local performing arts groups, died Sunday at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. He was 90.

Peterson owned a local communications business, RCS Inc., for 30 years. Beyond work, he found joy in the arts. He and his wife, Peggy, were particularly instrumental in establishing the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly.

Raised in the small northern Wisconsin town of Poplar, Peterson was a techie decades before the term was coined. Constantly tinkering with all things electrical, he opened his first business, Poplar Radio Sales, while still in high school.

“His brain was hard-wired for electronics,” says 30-year friend John Baer, who got to know Peterson through the Estero Radio Club in Morro Bay.

Peterson received his amateur radio license in 1933 and kept it current until his death.

Following stints at Superior State Teachers College and the University of Wisconsin, Peterson entered the Navy during World War II. In the Navy, he honed his electronics knowledge—and began a 65-year romance with Peggy.

“It was his tenderness, respect and love that he always showed and shared with Peggy,” said Sandi Sigurdson, executive director of the San Luis Obispo Symphony. “One of his lasting legacies is one of a great love story.”

While still in uniform, Peterson handled the microphones for Radio WLS in Chicago, producing a show called “Meet Your Navy.” There, he met radio headliners of the day, such as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

After the war, he continued his education at Notre Dame, MIT and Cal Tech before settling in 1946 in San Luis Obispo, where he taught electrical engineering at Cal Poly.

“We chose Poly,” his wife said, “because it had housing for married couples.”

Peterson established an amateur radio station on campus and immersed himself in the community’s cultural life. The couple resurrected the city’s war-dormant La Fiesta Parade and held fundraisers for civic improvements.

Their efforts to give back intensified over the years. Peterson was a 50-year Rotarian with the San Luis Obispo Monday club, and the couple donated to Cuesta College, Cal Poly, the Elfin Forest in Los Osos and the Botanical Garden in Chorro Valley.

The foundation for that financial generosity was laid in 1953 when Peterson left teaching to start RCS Inc., which was a public utility in the county for 38 years.

“We had 55 employees,” he told the then-Telegram-Tribune in 1994, “and locations in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Lompoc.”

He sold the business, with the exception of an answering service called Tascom, in 1983. The company became Golden State Phone and Wireless.

Cultural philanthropy

Longtime supporters of the arts, with special affection for the local symphony, the Petersons continued to broaden their cultural philanthropy.

The Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cuesta Master Chorale, Mozart Festival, Clark Center and the San Luis Obispo Symphony all received their support. In 1985, the couple gave a piece of Cambria property worth $75,000 to the San Luis Obispo County Symphony Association— believed to have been the largest donation ever made to local arts at the time.

“He had a tremendous influence on the community through donations to the arts,” said San Luis Obispo Mayor Dave Romero.

During the mid-1980s, the Petersons put their energy into establishing the Performing Arts Center.

Warren Sinsheimer, president of the Foundation for the Performing Arts at the time, called Peterson “a passionate believer in the project.”

“When it was clear we weren’t going to have an organ at the opening of the center, he set out and built one,” Sinsheimer said.

The Petersons were the first honorees of the Cal Poly President’s Arts Award in 1989. Cal Poly President Warren Baker recalled being impressed by the organ Peterson made, saying it brought together Peterson’s engineering abilities and passion for music.

“We consider it a moral obligation, as well as a privilege and responsibility, to give back to the community,” Peggy Peterson said.

Peterson is also survived by son Bill Peterson, daughter Merikay Guhring; six granddaughters, two grandsons, three great-grandsons and soon-to-be three great-granddaughters. He was preceded in death by son Gary.

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