Peter Durkee Meldrum's Obituary
June 26, 1947 - December 20, 2018\r\n\r\nPeter Durkee Meldrum, age 71, passed away on Thursday, December 20, 2018, one day after an unexpected accident. He was born on June 26, 1947, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the eldest son of Benjamin "Nibs" Meldrum and Grace Durkee Meldrum. Pete was truly a "Renaissance Man", whose wide-ranging interests and talents touched on just about everything.\r\n\r\nPete met the love of his life, Catherine Marie Roper, at the University of Utah, where they were both undergraduate students. They were married on June 16, 1970, in Salt Lake City. They had 48 wonderful years of marriage, and had one son together.\r\n\r\nWhile at the University of Utah, Pete enrolled in ROTC, and served for 2 years in the Army, finishing as a First Lieutenant. During his time in the Army, Pete and Cathie lived for a time in Alabama, as well as Pittsburgh, but Utah was always their home.\r\n\r\nPete had a lifelong passion for learning, as evidenced by his academic and professional achievements. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah in 1970, and his MBA from the University of Utah in 1974. He received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Westminster College in 2004, and an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Utah in 2009.\r\n\r\nFor most of his career, Pete worked as President & Chief Executive Officer of Myriad Genetics, a publicly-traded molecular diagnostics company. Pete was an original co-founder of Myriad, forming the company with Dr. Mark Skolnick. Pete took the company from its inception in 1992, through its initial public offering in 1995, to profitability as a company with over 2,000 employees at the time of his retirement.\r\n\r\nPete was always a kind and generous person. After retiring from Myriad, he served as Executive Director of The Meldrum Foundation, the family's private charitable foundation, which supports educational endeavors, artistic activities, and humanitarian programs. Pete also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Golden Pine Ventures, LLC, a seed-stage venture capital company focused on the formation and development of biotechnology and biomedical companies.\r\n\r\nAlthough trained as an engineer, with a career in the sciences, Pete had a profound love of the arts, and he served on numerous local arts boards, including Pioneer Theatre Company and Ballet West. In 2011, he received the prestigious "Bravo Award" for his philanthropic efforts for the arts. Pete also served on the Boards of Westminster College Board of Trustees, the Museum of Natural History, the National Advisory Council, and Fine Arts Advisory Boards of the University of Utah.\r\n\r\nPete was selected by Scientific American as one of the Top 50 Scientific Visionaries in the World and was a member of the "Scientific American Thinkbank™". He was awarded the "Governor's Medal for Science and Technology" in 1998 and received the "Mountain West Venture's Entrepreneur of the Year Award" in 2001. He received the "Distinguished Chemical Engineer Award" from the University of Utah in 2007 and the "American Federation for Aging Research Award of Distinction" in 2008. Mr. Meldrum was inducted into the Utah Technology Hall of Fame in 2009.\r\n\r\nPete and Cathie loved traveling together, and were able to visit places as diverse as: Alaska, Russia, India, both Eastern and Western Europe, South America, and several countries on the continent of Africa, from Egypt to South Africa. Their favorite destinations to return to were: Jackson, Wyoming (where they often canoed the Snake River), Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Hawaii, and the Canadian Rockies.\r\n\r\nPete was an exceptional athlete. In high school and college, he ran track, competing in the mile and the 3,000 meter steeplechase. In the steeplechase, Pete held the school record at the University of Utah for over 7 years. He also enjoyed other sports, such as basketball and football, and he loved both alpine and cross-country skiing. In combining his love of travel and skiing, he had the opportunity to ski at many wonderful resorts, including Chamonix (France), Zermatt (Switzerland), St. Anton (Austria), and Courmayeur (Italy), but throughout the years, Utah's own Alta ski resort remained his favorite.\r\n\r\nPete was also an avid mountain climber, having climbed many of the peaks in Utah and Colorado. He climbed his most challenging mountain in 2009, at the age of 62, successfully summiting Mount Kilimanjaro 19,340 feet) with his son, Chris.\r\n\r\nPete loved photography, and put together a book on the native wildflowers of the Wasatch Mountains, photographing and documenting their medicinal uses by the early Native Americans. He also wrote a novel, as well as a number of books on family ancestry, the evolution of man, the intersection of science and religion, and dinosaurs. Pete was passionate about paleontology, collecting many fossils, as well as assembling and mounting two complete dinosaur skeletons and two partial skeletons for his personal collection. In addition to fossils, Pete accumulated vast collections of meteorites, coins, and stamps.\r\n\r\nPete is survived by his wife, Catherine; his brother, Daniel (Patty); his son Christopher (Jenette); three grandsons, Ian, Colin, and Aidan; and multiple nephews and nieces. Pete was preceded in death by his parents, Grace and Nibs.\r\n\r\nA Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 29, 2018 at Saint Ambrose Catholic Church, 1975 South 2300 East. A vigil service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, December 28, 2018 at Neil O'Donnell and Sons Mortuary, 372 East 100 South, where friends may call from 6:00- 7:00 p.m. Committal, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 1342 East 500 South.\r\n\r\nIn lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Meldrum Family Scholarship at the University of Utah, awarded to first generation undergraduate college students with financial need.\r\n\r\nThe University of Utah\r\nDevelopment Office\r\n332 South 1400 East, Suite 150\r\nSalt Lake City, UT 84112-0300\r\n\r\nPhone: 801-581-6825 | Toll-free: 800-716-0377\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n
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