He was born in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 19, 1929, to Albert Edward and Marie Dumas Fyfe.

Peter was their only child. He attended private and parochial schools and graduated from Brooklyn Poly Prep Country Day School in 1947. He graduated from Union College in 1951 and then earned master’s degrees from Columbia and Princeton universities.

Peter served two years of active U.S. Army duty at White Sands, New Mexico, and in the Panama Canal Zone, followed by two years and additional summers in Germany at universities in Freiburg, Hamburg, Strasburg, Tubingen and Gottingen.

He taught English and Latin at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts before teaching German at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington for 10 years while, simultaneously, teaching Latin at neighboring Washington and Lee University for one year.

Peter later taught German at the University of North Carolina (Cullowhee), and the University of Evansville in Indiana. He then worked in the Cataloging Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., specializing in Dutch, German and other Germanic languages until he retired and moved back to Lexington in 1996, where he still had many friends from VMI days.

In Lexington, Peter became involved in a number of volunteer activities. He served as secretary and was a board member of Habitat; volunteered for Rockbridge Area Hospice (now ConnectionsPlus) for almost 25 years; was on the vestry, senior usher, property committee chair, and reader and chalice bearer at what is now Grace Episcopal Church; and made food deliveries to the needy for the Food for Shut-ins program for several years. He also returned to teaching German for a term at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista.

During his retired years in Lexington, Peter loved his dogs; continued to study languages; enjoyed listening to classical music, especially opera; cooking; antiques; a good cocktail in the evening; and a hearty glass of red wine with his late candlelit dinner.

Peter leaves his cousins on his father’s side, Thomas Fyfe King and Gilbert S. King IV of Ohio, and their wives, children and grandchildren.

His funeral will be at Grace Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, with burial to follow in the columbarium just behind the pew he occupied for many years at Grace Episcopal.

The family and friends wish to thank Joe Henson and Gail Gilbert for the extraordinary care they provided Peter at his home during his last years.

Memorial gifts may be made to his church or to the charities he served as a volunteer.

Arrangements by Harrison Funeral Home and Crematory.

NG