Lasting Memories

Peter Frank Christopher Phillips
1944-May 26, 2010
Palo Alto, California

Peter Frank Christopher Phillips, 66, a resident of Palo Alto, died May 26, 2010.

He was born in Wales and attended St. Paul's School in London. He graduated from Balliol College at Oxford University with a degree in chemistry. After college he worked in Dublin, Ireland, in an executive training program for the Guinness Brewing Company for several years. He came to the United States when he was accepted into the MBA program at Stanford University School of Business. Afterward he worked for Raychem, and later moved to Syntex Corporation for 13 years, where he eventually headed the compensation and benefits department.

Later in his career he worked for Oracle, Cadence, and Saba. He was also a director of Caribbean Marine, Inc. for many years.

While in graduate school, he met his future wife, Meredith Bowen Pearson. They married in 1972, and remained in the Bay Area for 38 years, first in Menlo Park and then in Palo Alto.

He played rugby and cricket during his school years, as well as soccer (experience that came in handy as an AYSO referee). He skied the most difficult areas of the French Alps and the American Rockies and Cascades. Later he gravitated to endurance events like mountain biking and running. He entered races all over the United States, and eventually completed 18 marathons. He also loved Scuba diving, classical music, fine wine, and travel. After he became an American citizen, he never lost his roots in England.

He remained in touch with college friends throughout his adult life, traveling back to the UK at regular intervals to see them and his family. For many years he attended an annual winter reunion with a group of close friends at ski resorts in France, as well as summer reunions all over Europe.

He had a wry sense of humor, and get-togethers of extended family and friends were inevitably filled with jokes and laughter. He was a devoted father and husband, and his family formed the center of his life, loved ones recall.

He is survived in the Bay Area by his wife, Meredith; sons, Chris Pearson, Jeremy Pearson, and Evan Phillips; and two grandchildren. In England he has left behind his mother, Doris Phillips; two sisters, Sylvia Mitchell and Kate Rogers; and four nieces and nephews.