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Elizabeth “Li” Peterson Rettie, Class of 1950 and Elmira College Trustee Emerita, passed away on October 25, 2022, at the age of 94.

Throughout her years, Rettie exemplified Elmira College alumni achievement and a lifelong commitment to investing in the College’s distinction, sustainability, and access.

When Rettie first arrived at Elmira College in 1946, Cowles Hall served as a residence hall for undergraduate students. Even as a first-year student, Rettie was its ‘Bell Girl,’ a virtual sergeant-of-arms bearing the responsibility of overseeing and controlling access to the Hall.

Four years later, she graduated with a Bachelor in Economics, and moved on to a pioneering career, establishing her own pension consulting firm followed by a comparable actuarial company at a time when there were few women in the field.

Active in and supportive of her alma mater, Rettie served as an Elmira College Trustee for nearly a decade and was named a Trustee Emerita in 2013. In 2016, she was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Elmira College.

As an Elmira College scholarship recipient herself, she would go on to establish the Joseph H. and Ellen A. Peterson Scholarship in memory of her parents and to ensure that future generations of Elmira undergraduates could benefit from scholarship assistance in the way that she herself did.

Rettie made one of the largest planned gifts in the College’s history, enabling the creation of Peterson Chapel in Cowles Hall, which is named in honor of the Peterson family. She also named the Patriotism stained glass window in the Chapel in honor of her special friend, Harold Lee Frost.

An avid sailor, Rettie posted a lifelong record of achievement in sailing as a member of the Riverside Yacht Club of Greenwich and the New York Yacht Club. An award winner for long-distance sailing challenges, she was named the Riverside Yacht Club Lady of the Year in 1994.

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