Remembering Professor Emeritus Peter K. Breit

Peter K. Breit, Professor Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, passed away on October 2, 2021. Peter served the University of Hartford for 34 years, distinguishing himself as a teacher, a scholar, and a university citizen. Peter joined the University in 1964, teaching in the department of Politics and Government and became the department chair in 1968. His special areas of expertise were international relations, foreign and defense policies, comparative politics, and post-war Germany. Peter created specialized courses, some jointly taught with faculty from other disciplines. These included The Literature and Politics of World War I and Holocaust Awareness. He was honored with the Roy E. Larsen Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1981.

A commentator on international relations, the Soviet Union, Germany, and strategic policies, Peter participated on panels in Europe and the United States. He delivered papers on the topics of displaced persons, routing out fascism, war and peace, and teaching political science, and was frequently interviewed by local and national media. His publications centered on war and morality, and military occupation as an instrument of national policy, and he served as president of the Northeastern Political Science Association. Peter received University of Hartford Coffin faculty grants, and fellowships from Yale University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and the Army War College. In 1963, he received a Fulbright grant for research in Germany.

When he wasn’t in the classroom, or in his office advising a student, Peter was deeply immersed in the complex process of governing the University. He was the first faculty member to hold the major offices of the Faculty Senate twice. Peter served on and chaired nearly every college and University committee and was a five-time University regent. He received the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Service to the University in 1989

In honor of his legacy, the University established an endowed Peter K. Breit scholarship fund.

Born in Dresden, Germany, Peter was a teaching assistant at the University of Massachusetts before coming to Hartford. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1956, and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Massachusetts in 1963 and 1967, respectively.

Joe Olzacki, a former student, remembers that “his intolerance for imperfection, his demands made on intellectual prowess, and his ruthlessly high expectations assured every student, especially me, that we would find the third side to a two-sided argument. ... I lost my mentor today. The world lost a genius and we all lost a wonderful friend and an honored colleague.”

Former colleague Harald Sandstrom says, “Peter was a man of towering intellect, profound passion, and an instinctive sense of humor that made average punsters like me feel embarrassed to be in the same room. We didn't always see eye to eye on University of Hartford matters, and went eyeball to eyeball on occasion—but invariably maintained mutual respect and deep friendship. He hired me right out of grad school, an ABD (all but dissertation) greenhorn who always felt his strong support. I am immensely grateful to him, and feel this loss very deeply."

“Peter was the quintessential professor, devoting himself to his students, his teaching, his scholarship, and his university," recalls Provost Fred Sweitzer. "I served on the Senate while Peter was the chair and admired his calm and even handed leadership. Perhaps my most cherished memory is the incredible kindness he showed to me when I arrived on campus in 1985. I was not in his department or his college but he went out of his way to make me feel welcome and show me the ropes."