PITTSBURGH (AP) - A retired insurance executive whose gifts to the University of Pittsburgh included $10 million for a basketball arena named for himself and his wife has died. John Petersen was 86.
University officials and Petersen's family say he died Saturday after battling cancer. He and his wife, Gertrude, had been living with their daughter in Savannah, Georgia, at the time.
Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg says the gift that helped fund the $119 million John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center helped invigorate the campus. Petersen and his wife also donated millions toward scholarships, a nanoscience and engineering institute, and an Olympic sports complex at the school.
Petersen worked his way up through Erie Insurance and retired as CEO in 1995 after 33 years.