Peter Bogardus '51 Tu'52 a recipient of Dartmouth's Alumni Award and an accomplished former member of the Big Green football and rugby teams died at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., on April 18 after suffering a massive heart attack in his sleep, his son Peter Bogardus, Jr. '87 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. He was 81.
Bogardus, who his friends and family called "Bogie," always had a "twinkle in his eye" and kept a card in his pocket to jot down the punch lines of good jokes, his son said.
Bogardus was a star player for the rugby and varsity football teams and was a lifelong supporter of the College, according to Dartmouth football head coach Buddy Teevens. Bogardus was also a member of the Bay Area chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame and received the Hall of Fame's distinguished American award in 2003.
Teevans said Bogardus was a good friend and supporter of the football program for years, and helped the Big Green in its recruitment efforts by identifying top West Coast student-athletes.
"He had a wonderful place in his heart for Dartmouth College," Teevens said. "He always had Dartmouth foremost in his mind."
Bogardus, Jr. said his father always sought out football players who were also academically gifted.
"I grew up in my house with football players around all the time that he was trying to convince to go to Dartmouth," Bogardus, Jr. said. "We would sit around the dinner table and listen to that."
Bogardus graduated from the Tuck School of Business in 1952 and served as a second lieutenant in the Air Force during the Korean War. After the war, Bogardus settled in San Francisco, Calif., where he met his wife, Shirley Paidar Bogardus, whom he married in 1957.
"When [alumni] first got to San Francisco after Dartmouth, they met my dad and he gave them their first job," Bogardus, Jr. said. "He loved anything Dartmouth, anyone Dartmouth."
Bogardus, Jr. said his father took him to see the movie "Animal House" (1978) in high school, even after having seen it twice before. He said his father laughed so hard that he cried, and related the movie to his time with friends at Dartmouth.
"It was hilarious to him, some people think I was too young to see it, but he couldn't resist," Bogardus, Jr. said. "He had to take me."
Bogardus was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the College. The fraternity was renamed Storrs House in 1970, and was later dissolved.
Bogardus, Jr. said his father had touched so many people throughout his life that even individuals whom his family never met had sent condolences, including one woman who commuted on the bus with Bogardus. The woman told Bogardus, Jr. that his father made her laugh everyday, he said.
"Wherever he went he loved talking to people and making them laugh," said Bogardus, Jr. "No matter who it was, everybody liked him."
Bogardus and his wife were avid travelers who visited every continent, sailed on the Nile River and went rafting in Peru. Bogardus camped through Europe in a Volkswagen van with his family in 1968 and lived in Kitzbuhel, Austria, according to Bogardus, Jr.
Bogardus worked for 35 years as a stockbroker in San Francisco most recently with the global financial firm UBS until his retirement in 2007, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"What stands out to me about Pete was the energy, dedication and the love of the College," William Lang '51, a teammate and friend of Bogardus, said. "He got along with everybody teammates, classmates. You never heard a bad word about him."
Lang described Bogardus as a "high-energy, very dedicated and loyal kind of guy."
"He was a good friend a bit of a rival," Lang said. "We both played guard and were vying for spots on the varsity team."
Bogardus, Jr. said his father went to a Gold's Gym location five days a week during his retirement. He said Bogardus' passing was a "blessed way to go" after a night out to dinner with his wife and close friends.
Bogardus is survived by his wife and his three children Bogardus, Jr., Betsyann Gallagher and Andrew Bogardus.
