Matthew Peter scholarship at University at Albany honors public servant from LI who died at 38

Matthew Peter embodied public service, serving in both elected and appointed positions, as well as being involved in charitable works in his lifetime. And now, just as he wished, a scholarship bearing the name of the 38-year-old from Merrick has been established for a purpose he revered — public service — at his alma mater, the University at Albany.

The administrators of the scholarship fund, which has raised nearly $110,000 from just over 300 donors since Peter's death in December, expects to begin awarding the $2,000 scholarship in the 2024-25 academic year, said Rich Azzopardi, a friend and one of two co-administrators.

“The last time I saw Matt” in December, Azzopardi said, he told Peter about helping “an old colleague of mine” establish a scholarship. “Matt thought the scholarship fund for that friend was cool. He did ask if anything happened to him, that would be a good way to remember him.”

So Azzopardi and Peter's life partner, Corinne McLeod, the other scholarship co-administrator, worked with university officials to establish the endowed scholarship. (The engagement ring Peter planned to give to McLeod was presented to her by his friends a month after his death.)

“It's something he wanted,” McLeod said. “He got his bachelor's and master's at Albany and he wanted to give back to the community, and wanted it focused on local politics. That was his love.”

His mother, Nancy Peter, said she thought the scholarship was a way for her son's work to “live on” in the city he came to love.

Peter was raised in Merrick, a graduate of Calhoun High School, the middle child of William and Nancy Peter, who still live in the community. His siblings are Sara Peter, 41, of Buffalo, and Brian Peter, 36, of Arlington, Virginia. His niece and goddaughter, Gabriella Fanti, 19, attends the University at Albany, her grandparents said.

He was Long Island-raised, but he made his mark in Albany.

After stints in state government, where he worked in the governor's office, the state Department of Taxation and Finance and the State Senate as a staffer, Peter turned to local government. He was reelected to a second term in the Albany County Legislature the month before he died.

Representatives from all aspects of his life remembered him in March in Albany at a memorial service, where Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan presided.

Sheehan, a Democrat, said in a phone interview she had known Peter since 2009, when he, a member of the Young Democrats, volunteered to work on her campaign for city treasurer. He had earned his master's degree in international relations and comparative politics from the University at Albany's Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy two years earlier.

“For a person his age, he was very aware of local politics, local government,” Sheehan said. “He made an impression.” He was her mayoral campaign manager in 2013 and, after she was elected, Peter became her first chief of staff.

“He's somebody who epitomized public service,” Sheehan said. “It wasn't just about elective politics, though he was a political junkie. He also was involved in volunteering his time to make sure people were fed during the pandemic. He cared a lot about city cleanup, improving infrastructure.”

Azzopardi said Peter “thought outside the box.” Azzopardi and others said a prime example was what Peter did in his role as executive director of the Albany Parking Authority.

“He saw a vehicle to do good. Overnight, the parking authority became the biggest patron of the arts,” said Azzopardi, who got to know Peter when both worked in state government.

Azzopardi was a top aide to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and now heads his own public affairs firm, Bulldog Strategies.

Sheehan said public art was something she and Peter talked about in the “very early days” of her administration. After he took the parking authority job, she said, they talked about how it could be an economic development opportunity. She said murals painted on parking authority structures and those adjacent to them could “bring more people into the community.”

Peter's parents — William, 74, a retired IRS appeals officer, and Nancy, 71, a retired pension administrator for an actuarial firm — reminisced about their son recently in their Merrick home. They displayed pictures from his boyhood, outfitted in firefighter gear or as a police officer, always in some kind of service position, they noted.

“We were stunned” when their son died in December, his father said. William Peter recalled the open-heart surgery his son had in October, when, Nancy Peter added, doctors had found an aneurysm. Complications followed weeks later and he died during surgery on Dec. 14, his mother said.

Peter's parents are grateful for the tributes that have poured in since his death.

“Matthew exemplified commitment to public service,” said Fardin Sanai, vice president for advancement at the University at Albany, “We are moved that so many who knew and loved Matthew have created this scholarship, which will benefit generations of students who share his dedication to making the world a better place.”

As of last week, 311 people had contributed to the scholarship, raising $109,230.

Peter nurtured friendships.

Azzopardi, 43, and his “best friend,” Peter, were “two Long Island boys stuck upstate,” joked Azzopardi, who grew up in Bay Shore. “We'd run into each other at events, the local bar.”

Peter “was the life of the party. He liked to organize trips. He liked to have fun,” Azzopardi said.

Peter's parents recalled that dinners with their son were usually interrupted by phone calls. “Thanking him for getting the city to pave their street. Whatever it was,” William Peter said. “He just seemed to know everybody.”

The City of Albany renamed the street Peter lived on, Lancaster Street, for him in March — Hon. Matthew T. Peter Way. His parents have a replica of the street sign.

“I think it makes him stay alive in the area he loved so much,” his mother said.

Nancy Peter said her son encouraged people to live life to the fullest. She rummaged through mementos, finally finding the quote on a card that captured her son's philosophy: “Every man dies; not every man lives.”

“I interpreted it to mean that you should take advantage of your life and really live it,” she said.

Asked if her son did that, she replied: “Absolutely.”

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie