Peter Hemingway, Launched Polaroid Operation In Russia, 65

[DGH]

.

Peter Hemingway a former vice president at the Polaroid Corporation in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, died Thursday, March 11, 2004, at Addison
Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Massachusetts, of bone cancer, at the
age of 65.

"He loved to putter," said his daughter Ellen Knollmeyer of Hampton,
New Hampshire. "He was always up at 6 a.m., dragging everyone else out
of bed, saying 'Let's go to the beach, let's hit a few tennis balls.'"

Mr. Hemingway was born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. The Wakefield High
School graduate received a degree in engineering from Northeastern
University in 1961. During his senior year there, he met his future
wife, Frances Mauck of Andover, Massachusetts, at a Club Casino dance
Hampton Beach, Massachusetts. Later, Mr. Hemingway took night classes
at his alma mater to earn a master's degree in engineering.

He began working at Polaroid around 1970, helping to develop the
instant film that popularized the company. With surplus test film
available at the family's Gloucester home, he snapped his four
children freely, always in the name of product research.

"When we were kids, we always had a camera around," said his son
Jonathan of New York. "Every awkward moment was caught on film."

His contributions led to increased management responsibilities at
work. "He started off in engineering before moving into marketing and
project development," his son said. "He worked on a lot of projects
that took him to different places."

The most memorable excursion required Hemingway and his wife to move
to Russia in 1989, where they launched a small Polaroid manufacturing
company and retail shop in Moscow. Hemingway told a Globe reporter at
the time that the Polaroid cameras would be assembled in Moscow with a
gradual increase in the usage of Soviet-made parts.

According to the story, Polaroid planned to establish with its
partners a facility for the export of Soviet-made electronics and
injection-molded plastic parts. Hemingway was tight-lipped about the
project, which drew attention as an indicator of shifting US-Soviet
relationships.

"It was that era when people in Russia were opening up," Knollmeyer
said. "It was such a closed society for such a long time, and the
Russians were very curious. He would stand in front of a little shop
and take pictures, maybe of a mother and her child. They wouldn't have
seen anything like that."

The couple relished their opportunity abroad, learning basic Russian
and trekking throughout Europe, particularly to ski the Alps. Jonathan
Hemingway spent a college semester helping his father in Moscow, and
Knollmeyer, a flight attendant at the time, visited frequently,
delivering such creature comforts from home as Vienna Fingers.

"He loved to explore new places and new cultures," Knollmeyer said.
"He was always trying to get us to do things. When you look back, it's
like, 'Wow, it really made a difference.'"

Mr. Hemingway retired from Polaroid in the mid-1990s. Following a
brief hiatus, he worked for three years as a vice president of
manufacturing at Gillette.

Whether heading to a boat show, taking ski trips to New Hampshire
mountains, or playing golf at the Bass Rock Golf Club in Gloucester,
Mr. Hemingway kept himself and his family busy. His children said he
had a quick wit that he would showcase by preparing pithy poems to
roast a party's guest of honor.

He enjoyed spending free time with his seven grandchildren,
particularly taking in their athletic contests, and navigating the
Cape Ann coast in his 26-foot Bowrider.