Dr. H. Peter Gray

Dr. H. Peter Gray, 91, of Belle Mead, NJ, passed away peacefully in Arden Courts, Yardley, PA, on Jan. 21, 2016. Dr. Gray was born in Cheltenham, England, on July 4, 1924, the son of the late Frederick James Gray and Annie (Burch) Gray. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School, served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II and earned degrees in Modern Languages and economics at Queens College, Cambridge. In 1953, Dr. Gray emigrated to Canada, and in 1956, to the United States, where he married Jean (Mathieson) Gray. He and his wife moved to California, where they both pursued and earned Ph.D.s in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. On completion of his course work at Berkeley, Dr. Gray accepted a fellowship at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and then a professorship at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. In 1968, he accepted a professorship at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he remained until his retirement in 1990.

During his long academic career, Dr. Gray authored or co-authored 22 books and over 150 articles and served as president of the Eastern Economics Association and the International Trade and Finance Association. Dr. Gray also taught at universities in Thailand, China, Denmark and Costa Rica, and lectured for the United States Information Agency in a broad group of countries ranging across the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. In his spare time, he was an ardent scuba diver, loved solving crossword puzzles, especially the Sunday New York Times, reading murder mysteries, attending the theatre, and enjoying good food and wine with friends and family. Dr. Gray is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jean. Donations may be made to Queens College, Cambridge. Please go to www.queens.cam.ac.uk/alumni-support/giving-to-queens. Please designate Queens as the recipient and note that the donation is in memory of H. Peter Gray.