Peter Beutel '77, a well-known energy analyst and former member of Zeta Psi fraternity, died of a heart attack at age 56 in his home on March 8. Beutel, son of news anchor Bill Beutel, founded Cameron Hanover, a company that provides analysis of energy markets, in 1995, according to his business partner Vince Lanci.
Beutel also published the Cameron Hanover Daily Energy Hedger report, which has been quoted by Dow Jones, the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barrons, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Money, Fortune and USA Today, according to Beutel's business partner Thomas Blakeslee. Beutel was a regular correspondent on trading and energy prices on CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Bloomberg, he said.
"Peter will be sorely missed by all," Lanci said in a message on the Cameron Hanover website. "We do not think his body of work, as enormous as it is, reflects the tremendous knowledge of the energy markets he had, as well as the political effects of oil."
In 2005, Beutel published "Surviving Energy Prices," in which he recounts the history of oil trading since 1850, when people relied on coal for heat and whale oil for light. Crude oil was "an alternative source of energy, like wind power and solar energy are today," he wrote.
Blakeslee described his friend as unique and well-read, with creativity and imagination that was "truly incredible." Beutel made up words, such as petro-centric, that were featured on radio stations and TV stations for years to come, Blakeslee said.
Beutel was born on July 22, 1955 and attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, graduating in 1973. After graduating from Dartmouth, Beutel worked at the stock brokerage firm E.F. Hutton, Blakeslee said.
Lanci, who spent the past three years speaking with Beutel on a daily basis, described his business partner as "a student of the world" with an "extremely high intellect." He said that they had many discussions on topics ranging from military history to philosophy.
"Everyone's going to say the same thing about Peter because it's all true he was kind, and he was someone who respected other people greatly," Lanci said. "Having a newsletter so widely respected offered him a bully pulpit to put his opinions out there, but Peter always chose the high road, and that says a lot about him as a human being."
Blakeslee said that Beutel was always known as an intelligent, intense person that "immediately affected you you had an opinion about him the moment you met him." Blakeslee said that his friend was "full of life" and never had a bad word to say about anyone.
"He used to love shocking people he'd show up to a party in sequin tails or with a full pirate regalia outfit," Blakeslee said. "He just had that kind of color."
In the past two months, Lanci and Beutel decided to expand their business, which Lanci described as a "one-man show." Lanci's work focused on creating the website for Cameron Hanover and building a business around Beutel's "volumes of knowledge." As Beutel was the face of the company on TV, Lanci recently pressed him to go to a doctor and take care of his health, especially his weight, a little more, Lanci said.
"Peter started a crash diet and lost 35 pounds in two weeks," Lanci said. "I saw him the day before he died and he said, I feel dizzy,' and I said, I'll see you tomorrow.' That was the last time we spoke, and he died the next morning. It's a travesty that as he was trying to get healthy and springboard into a better life, this happened."
Lanci said one of his favorite things about Beutel was his ability to make fun of himself and recognize what he didn't know.
"Peter remembers as a 17-year-old being asked about going to Princeton [University], to which he promptly replied, Princeton! I'm not going to school in the South,'" Lanci said. "Peter laughed telling me this story and said to me, I was such a damn Yankee.'"
Blakeslee said that throughout his 25-year friendship with Beutel, his business partner continued to be one of the smartest and kindest people he had ever met. Some of Beutel's fellow Zete members came to his memorial, which Blakeslee said was surprising since he had lost touch with many of them.
"Sitting around the bonfire with him and a few friends drinking beers, he would impersonate people he had a great sense of humor," Blakeslee said. "I'll miss him every day."
