“Pete” Clarence O. Peterson III, 82, passed away peacefully on June 24 at his home in Newtown after a long battle with frontaltemporal dementia (FTD). He is no longer silent from the FTD and enjoying the best fly-fishing the afterlife has to offer.

He was born in Mt Vernon, N.Y., in 1942 to “Curly” Clarence O. Peterson Jr, MD and Mary Griffith Peterson and after attending Iona Prep and Fordham University (ROTC and manager of the baseball team) he proudly served two years in the US Army’s 7th Cavalry, 1st Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam as 1st and 2nd lieutenant before starting his career as a CPA at Price Waterhouse and then commuted to NYC to Merrill Lynch, where he worked until retirement.

Pete leaves behind his wife of 59 years, Barbara Anne Peterson (nee Sansone) and their two sons, “Guy” Clarence O. Peterson, IV and his wife Lori (of Newtown) and Bradley T. Peterson (of Portland, Ore.), who they raised in Fairfield.

He was preceded in death by his brother Michael (Rowayton) and survived by bother Bobby (Bradenton, Fla.), sister Christine (Cincinnati, Ohio), sister-in-law Janet Sansone and husband Gary, and his five grandchildren, Brenden (Wilmington, Del.), Devin (Newtown), and Eddie, Elliot and Dean (Portland, Ore).

Pete was an avid fly-fisherman and dedicated significant volunteer time to watershed conservation as a life member of Trout Unlimited and one of the founding members of the Nutmeg Chapter in Fairfield and later supported the Candlewood Chapter. Pete not only enjoyed fly-fishing, he also taught hundreds of aspiring fly-fishermen to tie flies.

Pete spent most of his summers in Roscoe, N.Y., with a flyrod in his hand by day and a drink in front of the fire at night on the Beaverkill River, surrounded by his family and friends. Until FTD affected his mobility Pete spent countless hours fly-fishing the waters of the Potatuck Club in Newtown when not at the Beaverkill. At home Pete enjoyed keeping the household books like a small business, listening to classical music and watching action movies, the New York Yankees and the Giants.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to a charity of your choice (In Memory of Pete Peterson).

A special thank you to the home caregivers from Castle Home Group Care of Newtown.

Visitation will take place on Friday, July 5, from 5 to 7 pm, at Honan Funeral Home, 58 Main Street in Newtown. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 am Saturday, July 6, at St Mary’s Church, 26 Dodgingtown Road in Bethel. Interment will immediately follow in St Mary’s Cemetery, Route 53 in Bethel.