Robert Perew

Perew was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1923, to parents Bernice Perew (née Strahan) and Robert Jackman Perew. His paternal grandfather was Captain Frank Perew, owner of a fleet of cargo ships on the Great Lakes during the mid to late 19th century.

Perew lived in Buffalo, New York, and West Palm Beach, Florida during his youth. He graduated from Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York, in 1941, then attended Yale University where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering. Midway through his college career he served in the U.S. Navy, commissioned as the communications officer on USS Thornback (SS-418). After serving in the Pacific during World War II, he returned to Yale, graduating as part of the class 45W in 1949.

He began rowing at Buffalo's historic West Side Rowing Club while in high school. During college he was on the Yale crew and the U.S. team at the 1948 Olympics, part of the Men's Coxless Fours who took the bronze medal, alongside Gregory Gates, Stuart Griffing, and Frederick Kingsbury.

His later career included work at General Electric, Electric Boat (a division of General Dynamics), and York International. He lived near Long Island Sound in Waterford, Connecticut for over 40 years, and was a member of the Yale-Harvard Regatta committee for the rest of his life. He died on November 14, 1999, in Denton, Texas, where he lived from 1996 to 1999.

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  The 1948 Summer Olympic US Rowing Team - Men's Coxless Fours
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  Robert S. and Robert J. Perew at the 50th Reunion of the Yale 1896S class
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  Robert Perew and his sister Alice in November 1937

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