Peter Esty, former UHS Head of School, passed away Nov. 15, 2020, surrounded by his family in Massachusetts. Esty served as the Head of School at San Francisco University High school from 1989 through 1996, moving from the East Coast to the West Coast in time to be welcomed by the 1989 earthquake.

Esty grew up in a suburb of New York City during his formative years and when he was 12, his family moved to Amherst, Massachusetts. Before beginning his career in education, he worked for the General Foods Corporation and in real estate for years before heading to Harvard’s School of Education, where he received a master’s degree, beginning his long career in schools at age 35. He taught English at Deerfield Academy for 10 years where he also became Dean of Faculty. Then he became Headmaster at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn before taking the position of Head of School at UHS.

Esty arrived at UHS in 1989, where in addition to his Head of School duties, he became an instructor of 20th Century American Drama (after a 12-year hiatus from teaching) toward the end of his tenure. When asked then how it felt to be an instructor again, Esty noted: “The things I am learning! It’s great to be back in the classroom – I enjoy it! My students are used to me as a teacher now; we’ve all relaxed a bit. Also, the experience of teaching again really validates for me the things my colleagues are doing here at UHS.”

He was also responsible in part for the original bid to locate the UHS sports fields in the Presidio in 1993 when ownership of the property was transferred from the U.S. Army to Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Esty and then chief financial officer, Richard Whitmore, were also very involved in the lengthy neighbor negotiations and the approval of work from the city which led to campus updates and changes that same year including the Student Center that is named after Peter Esty. That construction consisted of digging down two stories to create the student center and the upper courtyard, we know today. It also added spaces to middle campus such as the music practice spaces, the Western Civ room and science labs.

After leaving UHS, Esty continued an exciting career in education that included leading Greens Farms Academy in Connecticut, opening a campus in Hanoi for School Year Abroad, serving on several boards all over the country, and serving as interim head of school at the Marin School in Sausalito.  Esty wanted to be remembered as “a leader who was accessible for the students, parents, faculty, alumni, trustees; who listened well; and who sometimes had to make the inevitable decisions [that] didn’t please everyone.” Those who worked with Peter will forever remember the warmth, joy, and often irreverent playfulness that characterized his leadership. Over the many years since his departure he remained a staunch supporter of Summerbridge, and he has kept in touch with the leadership of UHS, attending many school events and continuing to express his interest in and care for the school that he loved.