Peter Koehler

Peter KoehlerPeter Koehler came to the University of Pittsburgh in 1986 as Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Dean of the University of Pittsburgh Faculty of Arts and Sciences. After serving as dean for 12 years, he devoted himself full-time to teaching undergraduate students until he retired in 2017.

Like all teachers, Peter believes the students are his most brilliant legacy. But he also wants to enhance that legacy beyond his teaching years though an endowed gift.

“Aren’t your expectations that after you take care of your family and yourself, there will be something left over at the end of your days?  Well, what do you want to do with it?” Peter often asks other retirees. “If you want to do something that will be of long-time benefit to the University and can be within your means…a fellowship would really help.”

To express his appreciation to the University of Pittsburgh for giving him the opportunity to help shape young minds, he created the Peter F.M. Koehler Predoctoral Fellowship and the Peter F.M. Koehler Fund in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Kohler is funding his legacy by making annual gifts and through a beneficiary designation in his IRA.