Current Petrean News
John Greenacre (3 December 1934 - 25 September 2019)
25 September 2019
Dear Governors and Committee Members, Petreans, Friends and Staff of Peterhouse
Re: John Greenacre (3 December 1934 - 25 September 2019)
I write to inform you that John Greenacre died early this morning; truly the end of an era for our great school.
John joined Peterhouse in January 1959, from Cambridge University, having been appointed by Fred Snell, the first and founding Rector of Peterhouse (Fred Snell had previously been Rector of Michaelhouse where John completed his schooling). He subsequently served under Bruce Fieldsend, Alan Megahey, Mike Bawden and Jon Calderwood all former Rectors and was still teaching some maths until December 2014, when he officially retired having reached the age of 80. Even then, and in retirement, he ran the school archive and kept an active interest in Peterhouse as a regular attendee in school assembly, chapel, the Common Room, the dining hall and on the touchline (mostly cricket and rugby).
During his long and distinguished career at Peterhouse John taught maths to myriad pupils and was Housemaster of Paget (1966 - 1977), Housemaster of Grinham (1990 - 1994), Senior Master (1977 - 2002) and Acting Rector (Lent 1994).
Details of the funeral arrangements etc. will be announced in due course; in the meantime I attach a copy of the speech I made on the occasion of John’s Farewell Dinner in December 2014 which I hope will give you some sense of the wonderful schoolmaster and servant of Peterhouse he was.
Yours faithfully,
Howard Blackett MA (Oxon)
Rector
