Elizabeth Ann Peterson
August 30, 1944 - June 8, 2026
Liz was born in Queens, New York City. In high school she was a rebellious spirit, perhaps because of her desire to do great things but not knowing what that was. Liz was always seeking new things to explore.
She became a secretary, but Liz was exceptional and worked her way up to working in the financial district known as Wall Street. She never accepted limitations and took evening classes at community colleges which led her to work for a PhD degree in Cell Biology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute.
Following her graduate degree, she moved to Bethesda, Maryland to persue post-doctoral research on Malaria using electron microscopy. That is where we met. I remember a time when she asked me to assist her in taking blood samples from monkeys - scared the living daylights out of me but she handled it with her usual quiet efficiency. She also introduced me to camping on Hatteras and the Outer Banks.
One day we were at Point Lookout and she was showing me how to catch crabs using a chicken neck tied to a string. I had never done that before and I didn't expect to catch any. When I pulled in the string, there were 2 crabs attached! That is a mark for Liz - she would show you how to do something, would be pleased when you accomplished the task and never took the credit.
After several years, we realized that academia was not were we wanted to be. So we both left and together started a small computer software company at a time when very few people had personal computers.
The company was called 'Scientific and Educational software' because we would write software for scientists and educators. Her biggest influence was on the user interface, refusing to accept anything that was not easy and intuitive to use. Over time, our software was used internationally by universities, government agencies and biotechnology companies to assist them in their research work. There was just the two of us. We each depended on each other, trusted each other but always argued about how best to do what was needed. We often disagreed but I always listened to her because she saw things from a unique perspective.
We moved to Colorado in 2016 to persue our interest in choreographed ballroom dancing. During this time, Liz accidentally discovered ballet dancing. She had never had any ballet training prior to this. But thanks to Christina and Jen, she embraced the challenge of learning the steps and vocabulary. She met many really exceptional fellow dancers and would often regale me with how much she enjoyed ballet dancing and their company. Half our living room was allocated to her practicing ballet steps. As always, she would try to do the best she could. She was always looking to learn from experts and always assumed she could get better by learning from others.
Liz also took up water color painting, Tai Chi and other exercise classes. She had always been an avid bird watcher and recently took up tree identification. Everything she did, she took seriously and devoted much attention to doing the best she could.
Liz always had a love for cats. We have been married for 37 years and have given a home to many cats. Each cat is unique. Liz provided a caring home for each and each was allowed to be who they wanted to be and not how we wanted them to be. Our current cat 'Pamela' was adopted as a senior cat (>5 years old) from a shelter. Pamela misses her human as do I.
