Pete Keenan ’35 *36 

Walter Francis ("Pete") Keenan III 1913-2015 Peter Keenan entered into eternal peace at TidePointe on Hilton Head Island, SC, on July 15, 2015 at the age of 102 years. The son of the late Walter Francis Keenan II and Ruth Henderson Keenan, Pete is survived by his two sons, John D. Keenan of Weehawken, NJ and James H. Keenan and his wife, Maria, of Emeryville, CA, along with 5 grand and great-grandchildren. His wife of 62 years, Margaret "Tee" Keenan, predeceased Peter in 2005.

Peter was born in his hometown of Pelham Manor, NY in 1913, attended Pelham Memorial High School, and subsequently graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in 1935 and a master's degree in 1936, both in Mechanical Engineering. Following his graduation, Pete went to work for Union Carbide Corporation (now Dow Chemical) in Charleston, WV where he met and married his wife, Tee Keenan.

Pete and his family lived in Charleston for 25 years before being transferred to New York City with the Company. In his time with Union Carbide, Pete was an early visionary of what the coming computer age would be and its impact upon American businesses.

Peter and Tee moved to Hilton Head in 1976. Peter loved golf, sailing, bridge, computers, and earlier on, dancing. He was a charter founding member of both the South Carolina Yacht Club and the Hilton Head Island Computer Club and was also active in the Princeton Club of Hilton Head. In both of the past two years, Pete was honored by Princeton University to lead its traditional annual Reunion Parade as being the oldest returning alumnus.

During his early years on Hilton Head, Pete owned and operated a commercial software computing company known as Computer Programming Inc., and more recently, he created a computer program for the solution of Sudoku puzzles, an accomplishment in which he took great pride.