Robert Perew

Robert Strahan Perew was born in Philadelphia, PA on August 5, 1923. His mother was Bernice Perew (maiden name Strahan) and his father was Robert Jackman Perew. His grandfather was Captain Frank Perew, who owned a fleet of cargo ships on the Great Lakes during the mid - latter 19th Century.

Robert lived in Buffalo, NY and West Palm Beach, FL as he was growing up. He graduated from Lafayette High School (Buffalo), NY in 1941, then went on to Yale University where he majored in mechanical engineering. Midway through his college career he joined the U.S. Navy and was commissioned as the communications officer on the submarine the USS Thornback (SS-418). After serving in the Pacific on submarines during WWII, he returned to Yale where he graduated as part of the class 45W in 1949.

He began rowing at West Side Rowing Club while still in high school. During college he was on the [http://www.yale.edu/rowing/ Yale crew] and also on the U.S. team Rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics. His event, the Men's Coxless Fours, took the bronze medal for their race. Robert always claimed they could have taken the gold except they thought there was a false start by the German team and hesitated for a second, thus they placed third at the finish line. The rowers were Gregory Gates, Stuart Griffing, Frederick Kingsbury, and Robert Perew.

His career included work at General Electric, Electric Boat -a division of General Dynamics, and York International. He always enjoyed boating and lived near Long Island Sound in Waterford, CT for over 40 years. He was a member of the Yale-Harvard Regatta committee until the year he died and never missed this race.

Robert passed away on November 14, 1999 in Denton, Texas where he had resided his last couple of years near his daughter's family.