Peter Buffington, who was devoted to the annual Wellfleet and Truro road races, died on Oct. 17, 2024 at the Terraces skilled nursing center in Orleans following a steady decline from dementia. He was a dedicated supporter of the sea turtle rescue initiative at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary among many other Outer Cape conservation programs. He was 89.
The second of three sons of Lois Chapman and James Buffington Jr., Peter was born in Fall River, raised in Walpole, and summered in Craigville. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1954 and Harvard in 1958.
Following service in the U.S. Army, he received an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1962, after which he worked in banking. At 32, Peter become one of the youngest vice presidents at Chase Manhattan Bank, working primarily in investment and estate planning; he lived on New York’s Upper East Side for nearly a half century.
A quintessential New Yorker, Peter enjoyed and supported the arts, museums, libraries, and public parks. An Anglophile, he had a keen interest in ancestry and was a member of the Pilgrims, the Fall River Historical Society, the English-Speaking Union, the Professional Children’s School, and St. George’s Society, which he served as treasurer.
Peter took up jogging in his 50s, thanks to his friend Jacqueline Jeffries — and over the years ran road races sponsored by the NY Road Runners Club and on Cape Cod. He especially loved the Brew Run (Brewster), Chatham Light, and Harwich Cranberry fall festival runs. He ran the Falmouth Road Race the day after his niece Joanna Buffington’s wedding in 1996, joined by both the bride and groom.
When his brother Jim and sister-in-law Judy moved to Eastham, Peter expanded his visits to the Outer Cape, and the Wellfleet and Truro races became his favorites. Joanna, helping him clean out a storage unit in the city, estimated that he had more than 3,000 T-shirts, most of them from races.
He supported many charities on Cape Cod, including Champ Homes, the Christian Camp Meeting Association, the Centerville and Eastham libraries, and the Centerville Historical Society. Through Mass Audubon, he contributed to the protection of large swaths of land in central and western Mass. and to Wellfleet Bay’s Turtle Endowment Fund. He supported land trust acquisitions at Terrapin Cove in Eastham, the former Sea Camps in Brewster, and Sipson Island and Braddock’s Way in Orleans, among others.
He is survived by his niece Joanna Buffington of Eastham; his brother James Buffington III and nephew Jonathan Buffington of Eastham; his brother Andrew and wife Sally Buffington of La Jolla, Calif.; his niece Katherine Buffington, husband David Swain, and son Rowan of San Diego, Calif.; his niece Anne Buffington, husband Mark Anunson, and sons Soren and Rain of Madison Wisc.; and his grandniece Schuyler Crespo, husband Josh, great-grandnephews Ezra Boardman, Ayri and Matteo Crespo, and great-grandniece Addy Lou Crespo of Franklin.
Peter was predeceased by his sister-in-law Judith Hulsman Buffington and his nephew James Chapman Buffington.
The family thanks the staff of the Terraces and VNA Hospice nurses for their care for Peter.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Peter’s memory can be made to Champ Homes in Hyannis, the Christian Camp Meeting Association in Craigville, or the Centerville Historical Society.
