William C. Peterson G’65 died on April 3, 2025, in Carbondale, Illinois.

(The following was provided by the Crains Funeral Home on April 3, 2025:)

William Carl Peterson G’65

William Carl Peterson died at home on April 3, 2025.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Arlene and Russell Peterson, and his son, Armin Peterson.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen Lamb, his sister, Marie Peterson, his sons, Eric Peterson and John Venice (Cory) Lamb, his grandsons, Venice, Anthony Liam, and Paxton.

Bill was born on November 7, 1939, living his early years in Menominee on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He grew up enjoying hunting and fishing with his father and relatives. He took an early interest in science, spending hours at the local library, to become one of the first National Merit Scholars. He graduated from Northern Michigan University, going on for his M.S. at Michigan State University; he completed his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Iowa State University, where he was funded by the Atomic Energy Commission for his work in the Ames Lab. Early in his career he solved the Liapunov function, highly significant in satellite communications for the separation of signals from noise. He taught briefly at SIU and then Western Virginia University, going on to a ten-year career in the General Electric Aerospace Research and Development Division, where he worked on various satellite projects as well as the Hubble telescope. He co-authored a Handbook of Signal Processing: Environmental and System Effects, published by GE in 1991. He returned to Carbondale, marrying his wife in 1993. He used his skills in applied mathematics in agro-economics, conducting numerous research grants, as well as publishing papers and working with graduate students at the School of Agriculture at SIU, retiring in 2004. In his retirement years, he tutored math in the GED program, and enjoyed hiking and playing gin rummy. A devout believer, he was a member of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. He is greatly missed.