Peter Kilby

Peter Kilby, professor of economics, emeritus, passed away on Aug. 2, at the age of 83. Kilby arrived at Wesleyan in 1965 after working with USAID in Nigeria for two years. He received his BA from Harvard University, his MA from Johns Hopkins University, and his D.Phil from the University of Oxford. Kilby’s work spanned continents. Throughout his career, Kilby was appointed a Fulbright Fellow, a Ford Foundation Foreign Area Fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He served as an advisor to the ILO World Employment Programme in Geneva, the Ciskei Commission in South Africa, the governments of Malaysia and Tanzania, the World Bank in Kenya and Nigeria, USAID, the U.S. State Department, and the Food and Agricultural Organization, among others. “Peter Kilby was a respected scholar and beloved teacher with a wide range of friends at Wesleyan not only among those of us in the social sciences, but throughout Wesleyan’s three divisions,” said colleague Professor Emeritus Mike Lovell. Kilby is survived by his wife, Marianne Kilby, his three children, Damian, Christopher, and Karen, and his six grandchildren.