Robert Newton Peck

Robert Newton Peck (February 17, 1928 – June 23, 2020) was an American author who specialized in children's and young adult literature. His works include A Day No Pigs Would Die, Millie's Boy, and the Soup series.

Early life

Robert Newton Peck was reticent to discuss his early life, perhaps because the reality was in a number of respects different from statements he made and from the picture portrayed in his novels. Peck gave his birth date as February 17, 1928, but typically refused to specify where he was born.^[1] His place of birth was Ticonderoga, New York, as is recorded in state archives and published in the local newspaper.^[2][3] Peck's parents, Frank Haven Peck,^[4] a widower, and Lucile Dornburgh,^[5] both of Ticonderoga, were married in 1923 in Glens Falls, New York. At his birth, Peck was named for his two deceased grandfathers, Robert Dornburgh,^[6] a prominent attorney, and Newton Peck,^[7] who was trained as a medical doctor but later became a clothing merchant.^[8] At the time of Peck's birth, the family consisted of Peck, his parents, and two half sisters, Marian and Molly, who were several years older than Robert. (Two older half sisters had married before Robert was born.) By the fall of 1930, however, his mother had filed for a separation, though both parents continued to live in Ticonderoga; a divorce was granted in early 1933. From about the age of two, Peck and his mother lived in the home of her deceased parents, along with her sister, Caroline ("Carrie") Dornburgh. Lucile was the homemaker, and Carrie worked as a business secretary and stenographer.^[9] During the early years of the Great Depression, Lucile and Caroline attempted to sell the family home, not a "farm" but a town lot with two adjoining half lots (about a third of an acre).^[10] They were apparently unsuccessful, for the property was foreclosed upon by the Ticonderoga National Bank six years later, when Robert was nine, though the family continued on in the home as renters for about four more years.^[11] When Peck was about thirteen, he and his mother moved to Glens Falls, New York, for a couple years before returning to Ticonderoga.

Peck indicated that he was born and grew up in Vermont, as in his semi-autobiographical novels. Though Peck and his mother briefly lived in

In 1958 Peck married Dorothy Anne Houston, a Columbia University graduate and librarian, and they were the parents of two children: Christopher who was born in 1968, and Anne born in 1971. Christopher died July 31, 2011, at the age of 43. ^[26] Fred Rogers, a classmate at Rollins College, was an usher at the Peck's wedding and, according to Peck, the godfather to his children.^[27][28] Robert and Dorothy divorced in 1994. His second marriage was to Sharon "Sam" Michael in 1995.^{[13] [29]}

In 1984, Peck was sued by Mary Jo Wardlaw, an

He likened her to a fictitious character in his books called "Janice," who he said was the "bully of his childhood." He described "Janice" as "built like a garbage truck" with "fists like cannonballs" and said she walked hunched over with her fists dangling before her so her left arm swung over her left leg and her right arm swung over her right leg. He said Mary Jo Wardlaw was late to the airport because she walked like "Janice." He then mimicked Wardlaw's supposed walk by walking across the stage in front of the convocation audience in an ape-like position.[30]

A South Carolina appeals court upheld a $24,000 jury verdict against Peck on the theory that when Peck cast aspersions upon Wardlaw's chastity, his public remarks were slanderous per se.^[30]

In 1993, Peck was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx, but overcame the disease.^[31] Peck lived with his wife in Longwood, Florida, and died there in 2020.^[13]

References