Peter G. Marston

My friend and long time singing partner, Peter Marston has left this world. Here is his obituary. Many who knew him as a singer did not know of his achievements in the world of magnetic engineering and super colliders. He is greatly missed. — David Jones

Peter G. Marston Obituary — February 13, 1935 – September 30, 2022
Peter Grant Marston, 87 of Ipswich, MA, husband of Suzanne C. (Shatto) Marston passed away peacefully at his residence on Friday, September 30, 2022.  He was born in Boston, MA on February 13, 1935, son of the late Howard and Ruth (Grant) Marston.

In Peter’s early years, his family moved from Boston to Rockport, Massachusetts, where he spent an idyllic childhood, swimming and sailing in the ocean, a less than 5-minute walk from his home. He had his first boat at the age of 8 and as a teen, crewed on some of the area’s major racing sailboats and yachts.

Peter was a graduate of Mass Maritime Academy and served as a merchant marine for a couple of years, returning from sea to marry and raise a family.

He spent his professional career as a research engineer, studying magneto dynamics, becoming a world authority on magnetic engineering and supercolliders. Peter served as the head of the US Department of Energy Program for Magnetohydrodynamics and High Energy Physics Technology and headed up the Plasma Fusion Center at MIT.

He was later recognized by an international group of Nobel laureate physicists for being the reason for the success of every one of the world’s Supercolliders, including the most recent one, CERNE, in Switzerland.

Peter also utilized magnet technology to devise a cheaper, more environmentally friendly method to treat wastewater on a commercial scale. Today, his technology is used in community and commercial wastewater treatment facilities across Massachusetts, the country, and the world.

Peter was also heavily involved in music and theatre as a member of the Cambridge Revels troupe and created the offshoot, Sea Revels. He was also a member of “The Starboard List,” a group that performed original and historical sea shanties and achieved much popularity across the US.

For many, Peter is best known for his role in “The Voyage of the Mimi” educational television series. He was passionate about public education initiatives involving math, the sciences, and environmental sustainability. He helped create and starred in “The Voyage of the Mimi,” used in classrooms throughout the country to teach environmental and science concepts to middle school students. When the boat originally chosen for the filming became unavailable, Peter’s boat, the Mimi, became the heroine of the series.

In later years, Peter enjoyed gathering with friends for sea shanty and music sings and loved to dance to the waltzes that were played. He never lost his beautiful baritone voice, nor his encyclopedic memory of song lyrics.

Once, at a major educational conference, he was introduced as “A Renaissance Man,” as he excelled in so many facets of Science and the Arts. He was that and more, but his family knew him as just “Peter”, “Dad,” and “Opa,” the man who loved them dearly, read and sang to them, and had a penchant for knots and folding napkins and paper into dolls and airplanes.

He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

Peter is survived by his wife 26 years, Suzanne C. Marston; children, Ingrid Baerensten and Jen Andersen, Birgitta Davis, Bret and Victoria Cullen, Keeley and Luke Fanuele, Marijke and John Kane; grandchildren, Tony Marston and Mary Bannister, Melissa and Andy Houle, Paul Baerensten, Peter and Monika Baerensten, Jake Baerensten; many other grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild; brother, Howard “Chick” Marston Jr. and sister, Debbie Marston Jelmberg.

He is predeceased by his parents, Howard “Chick” Marston, and Ruth “Bammie” Grant Martson; his first wife, Greta afKlinteberg Marston; son, Peter Grant Marston Jr., and brother, Norris “Nocky” Marston.