In Memoriam

Peter Cotroneo Weise

(April 2, 1968 – March 23, 2025)

Peter Cotroneo Weise, a member of one of the early and particularly involved cohorts of the joint MA in German and European Studies/Ph.D. in German passed away on March 23, 2025. His wife Jill Cotroneo Weise, and their sons Benjamin and Nicholas were by his side.

Peter was born in Eisenhüttenstadt, a city on the border between what was then East Germany and Poland. In the post-1989 world, Peter made his way via Bates College in Maine to Georgetown University. Here he was an active member of the newly established joint graduate program between the School of Foreign Service, the Graduate School, and Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences. Peter found his love of teaching as he contributed to the development and implementation of our Developing Multiple Literacies curriculum. His at times wry sense of humor and quick wit helped us all to get through some of the more difficult spots.

Peter’s family background in East Germany played a big role in the selection of his dissertation topic which looked at the particular tension between Jewish authors and the state in the (anti-fascist) East Germany. He completed his thesis, “Schalom Genosse Schriftsteller – German-Jewish Literature in the German Democratic Republic” in 2004. By that time, the Weises had relocated to the Boston area where Peter very successfully taught at Boston University and then at MIT.

Family considerations brought the Weises to Florida, where Peter focused on perfecting his tennis moves and spending time with his family, including his sister Anne Barbara. He also volunteered for the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) promoting the teaching and learning of German across the country.

Peter’s devotion to the teaching of German and keeping educational opportunities open for all is memorialized in the Weise Family Endowment. Funds from that endowment will support graduate students who will be the future educators of things German – and in particular those who are interested in cross-disciplinary studies like Peter was.