Obituary: Jeannie Peterson, 1940-2024 

Jeannie Peterson was born in 1940 in Suttons Bay, Mich., and died on February 19, 2024, in Cardiff by the Sea, Calif. 

Jeannie earned her undergraduate degree and a master of science in journalism from Northwestern University. After working as a travel writer, she moved to Sweden and served as editor of Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment from 1972 to 1983. She initiated the publication of a special double issue of Ambio, published in 1982, and a book in 1984 called The Aftermath: The Human and Ecological Consequences of Nuclear War, published in England by Pergamon Press and in the U.S. by Pantheon Books. She invited scientist Paul Crutzen to contribute an article to that issue, which explored the atmospheric consequences of nuclear war. His coauthored Ambio article provided the impetus for the "nuclear winter" theory, later developed by other scientists such as Carl Sagan. The Ambio issue/book originated and explored the idea that there might be no winner in a nuclear war because of the probably disastrous aftereffects of climatic cooling caused by soot that would circulate the atmosphere and potentially block the warmth from the sun, with devastating effects around the northern hemisphere. The general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who met with then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, afterward stated that the nuclear winter effect had a decisive impact on his decision to embark on a peaceful, nonnuclear relationship between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Jeannie went on to serve as director of the Public Information Center for the Consequences of Nuclear War in Washington, D.C., in 1984. In 2022, Jeannie was among eight Future of Life Award winners for reducing the risk of nuclear war by catalyzing and popularizing the science of nuclear winter.

From 1986 to 2001, Jeannie worked for various organizations with the United Nations, including as country director with the United Nations Population Fund in Manila; head of the United Nations Protection Force’s political offices in Belgrade and Croatia; with the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium; and with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Mission to Croatia.

In Vermont, Jeannie was a supporter and active participant in many Champlain Islands organizations and events and a great addition to the islands community. She was an active and engaged member of the Vermont Council on World Affairs and brought an awareness and understanding of the world to us all. Thanks to Jeannie and her work at the United Nations, our islands community was introduced to many creative people from around the world. She had a small business in art photography, photographing the ever-changing elements of sky, wind and water. Her work was exhibited at the Island Arts Gallery in South Hero, the North Hero Community Hall, the Brian Memorial Gallery in Stowe, the Forchgott Sourdiffe Gallery in Shelburne and the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. In early 2000, Jeannie joined the Island Arts board of directors, a county organization supporting the arts through performance, education and sponsorships. She invited members of "Artist Way" to visit her house in Cyprus and hosted an unforgettable immersion in history, art and culture. At her recommendation, Island Arts visited the North House Folk School and the Art Colony in Grand Marais, Minn. The visit inspired the birth of the Island Arts Academy.

In 2012, before leaving Vermont for California, Jeannie gifted Island Arts her beautiful photographs of Lake Champlain. A selection — her legacy to the people of the Champlain Islands — will be exhibited this summer as a celebration of her life here in Vermont.

She is survived by her brothers Mark Peterson and Paul Peterson; Mark’s wife, Mary; and Mark's children, Sara Geierstanger and Nate Peterson. She was preceded in death by her mother, Ellen (Glommen) Johnson; father, Paulus Peterson; brother Einer Peterson; and sister, Nathalie Ensrud. With her gentle grace, Jeannie was admired and respected by all. She was an unpretentious, accomplished and brilliant woman and a generous, caring and fun-loving friend. Gifts in Jeannie Peterson's memory can be made to Island Arts and mailed to PO Box 108, North Hero, VT 05474, or made online at islandarts.org to support the arts and benefit the Champlain Islands communities.