Alumnus and Former Trustee Peter Aldrich ‘62 Receives the Founders’ Day Award at Assembly

Photo Courtesy of the Exeter Communications Department

By JINMIN LEE and FORREST ZENG

      On May 17, alumnus Peter Aldrich ‘62 received the Academy’s yearly Founders’ Day award for his longterm support of the school.

      The Founders’ Day Award is given annually to a member of the Exeter community who has shown exceptional service to the Academy. Five former recipients, including last year’s recipient, emeritus Instructor in Science Richard Aaronian, attended the assembly.

      Aldrich graduated from Exeter in 1962; he is also the founder and retired chair of the real estate investment advisory AEW Capital Management and former chair of the investment holding company AEGIS, LLC.

      In the Exeter community, Aldrich has since served on the Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1997. Since his graduation, he has also served as class correspondent, reunion committee member, and Long Step Forward campaign chair, for which he raised $25 million between 1967 and 1971.

      Aldrich has four children and lives in Little Compton, RI, with his wife Widgie. He has found a passion for creating oil painting and is a trustee at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

      In his assembly speech, Aldrich implored students to seek fun and passion in their lives. During notable moments, his speech drew smiles and claps from the audience that included former classmates, friends, and family.

      At one moment, he received raucous applause: “When it came to who I would spend all my life and my memories with, I hit a grand slam!” he said, referring to his wife sitting in the audience.

      “It was certainly enjoyable,” said lower Edward Wu. “I liked how loud and cheerful the crowd got, which doesn’t happen often in assembly and brings a strong energy. I liked his references to baseball, too.”

      Senior Nataly Delcid agreed. “I liked the assembly a lot. It was surprising because I had found previous Founder’s Day Award assemblies low-energy, but yesterday was exciting. He seemed grounded in his life perspectives, and I liked his confidence in his philosophy about pursuing careers and passions; his virtues resonated with me,” she said.

      In his speech, Aldrich spoke about his life journey. Highlighting his personal development, he told students to form deep connections with their peers, and to simply “have fun.” “I didn’t have a career, per se, as many people do. I realized that my life philosophy was to form deep relationships, and to have fun while doing so,” he said. “It’s all about having fun. Do what you love, not what other people love.”

      “He talked about things that many Exonians have in the back of their mind but are afraid to talk about,” recalled lower Ezra Segal. “He emphasized relinquishing the pressure to accumulate titles and labels that matter to others and encouraged us to gather experiences that actually enrich our lives.”

      “I did like the assembly because the person who won the award deserved it,” concluded prep Lake Zhou. “He found what he wanted, and I could tell he lived every day with excitement, which was truly admirable. I enjoyed listening to his advice that you don’t learn anything unless you try new things. There’s always a chance that you fail, but even so, that helps you improve.

      Towards the end of his speech, Aldrich struck a serious, but hopeful tone. “The world is so incredibly divided today. In every different way, it is divided by people who believe different things,” he concluded, speaking directly to the students in the audience. “But the people that will fix that are the people in this room today. You are resilient. You are driven. And I’m sure of that.”

      “We decided to go down to Swasey parkway with the dorm to avoid the light pollution concentrated near town and to go to a calmer place where we could enjoy the nature of it all. The lights weren’t completely visible, but you could see occasional streaks in the sky. The camera was really what brought out the vivid blues and purples and greens,” upper Jacques Leleux said.

      “It was an incredible, transcendental experience,” said lower Andrew Gould. “I saw it in front of Cilley Hall and in front of the Academy building. Though I couldn’t see it at first with my naked eye, I could see it on camera. I was lucky Cilley Hall had a hide-and-seek in the Academy Building