Family Honors Professor Peter W. Bretsky’s Legacy Through Geosciences Scholarship

The late Peter W. “Pete” Bretsky Jr. was a professor of paleontology and geological sciences at Stony Brook University with a zest for continued learning. In fact, he would often sit in on history or Greek lectures. “My dad was immensely curious academically,” said Bretsky’s son Philip Bretsky. As a way to honor his father and keep that legacy of learning alive, Philip and his wife, Marian Henry, established an endowed scholarship to support undergraduate students studying geosciences.

Bretsky grew up in a working-class family in Pennsylvania and planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and work in the steel mill after high school. “He hadn’t even thought about going to college until friends of his on the high school tennis team asked where he was going after graduation,” Philip said. After two years of working in the steel mill and saving up enough money, Bretsky attended Lafayette College, where he studied geology and paleontology. He went on to earn a master’s degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and a PhD at Yale University. Bretsky’s first faculty role was at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. 

In 1972, he took a position in Stony Brook’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences (ESS), which is now the Department of Geosciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Since it was still a new institution, my father loved the academic freedom he had at Stony Brook,” Philip said. “He had two huge lab spaces in the basement of the ESS building, which was very appealing to him.” Bretsky also loved being on the East Coast, as he would often do field work in upstate New York, near the Great Lakes.

With Philip’s mother, Sara, working in the city, he would spend a lot of time on campus and in the field with his father. “I would ride my bike around campus and even learned to drive in the parking lots,” Philip recalled. “I went bowling in the basement of the Student Union and played Pac-Man in the arcade. I have a lot of fond memories of spending time with my dad and his students.” Philip said he could always see how much Bretsky enjoyed teaching, both in the classroom and in the field. “My father went into paleontology because he liked science and history,” Philip said. “He believed paleontology shouldn’t be behind a desk, which is why he really enjoyed the practicality of field work.”

In addition to being curious academically and being out in the field for his own research, Bretsky was an athlete, Philip said. “He had been an athlete in high school and was the captain of Lafayette’s tennis team, but he stayed fit his entire life due to the physical demands of his work,” he explained. “I’d watch him rappel down rock walls to gain access to different fossil exposures. And then see him carry a backpack filled with 40 pounds of rocks and fossils to bring back to his lab.” 

“The Peter W. Bretsky, Jr. Scholarship in Geosciences is a wonderful testament to the dedication of our late professor to the Department of Geosciences and its students,” said David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to support our undergraduate students in exploring their intellectual curiosity, just as Professor Bretsky had, through research and scholarly work in geology.” 

When Bretsky retired in the early 1990s, he moved to the United Kingdom. When he passed away earlier this year, Philip and Marian wanted to do something to honor him. With such fond memories of how happy his father was at Stony Brook, Philip was motivated to establish the Peter W. “Pete” Bretsky, Jr. Scholarship in Geosciences. The endowed scholarship will support undergraduate students as they pursue their interests in geology. “My father was committed to undergraduate education,” Philip said. “Stony Brook is an incredible institution with so many opportunities for students. I know that my father would be happy to know that his legacy will be supporting not just future generations of students but the future of geosciences studies.”

Funding for the Peter W. “Pete” Bretsky, Jr. Scholarship in Geosciences is amplified by both the New York State endowment match program and the Simons Infinity Investment Match Challenge, which will triple the impact this endowment gift will have on Stony Brook. For more information, visit stonybrook.edu/endowments. If you have an interest in or questions about endowments or the match opportunities, contact Scott Barrett, interim vice president for Advancement, at (631) 632-9128 or scott.barrett@stonybrook.edu. 

-Christine McGrath