Peter Lewis Silveston Passes Away At Age 86

PETER LEWIS SILVESTON was 86 when passed away peacefully in Charleston, S.C on Sunday, January 7th, 2018. He was surrounded by his children, Rachel, Rebecca and Matthew. Peter was born on March 10th, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, and was an only child. Peter graduated from Oakwood High School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y in 1947 and received his Bachelors and Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. He studied for his PhD at the Technische Hochschule in Munich, Germany. Starting out as a research engineer in 1957, he began a long university career continuing with the University of British Columbia in 1961 and from 1963 until 1997 at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada as Professor of Chemical Engineering. In 2003, he was named Professor Emeritus and continued to teach overseas, write books and volunteer. He met his wife Helen in Boston, they were married in 1957 and stayed together until her untimely death from cancer in 1997. After Helen's passing, Peter was fortunate to have met Renate Anderson and they had a long standing loving relationship. Peter's loving devotion to his children, grandchildren, friends, University of Waterloo Chemical Engineering colleagues and students, Audubon Society, Sierra club, Quaker meeting, MIT Alumni, Oakwood and Manumit Alumni was well known and will continue to be a source of joy and inspiration to all who knew and loved him. His smiling presence and wit was shared with many friends and family throughout the world and he will be dearly missed. He is survived by his three children and their spouses, Yvan, James and Barbara and six grandchildren.

Friends are welcome to attend a celebration of life memorial which will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2018 at the Cinder Creek Pavilion on Blue Heron Pond Road on Kiawah Island from 11 am to 2 pm. Donations for those so inclined may be directed to Matthew Silveston, 26 Indigo Point, Charleston, S.C  29407. We plan on planting a tree in his memory at the University of Waterloo. Pete touched so many lives in very different ways. Those wishing to submit any stories or other messages for Peter's family may do so via email.