Peter Gove

Peter Gove founded FMR in 1993 and served as our first board chair.

Peter was the first chairman of the Mississippi River Commission appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to develop a comprehensive general management plan for our local national park, the Mississippi National River & Recreation Area. He also served as Governor Wendell R. Anderson's environmental assistant, Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and a founding member of the Environmental Quality Board. He also served as legislative director on Senator Anderson's U.S. Senate staff and as Chief of the Office of Legislation for the U.S. National Park Service.

After his public sector career, Peter was an executive for two Minnesota tech companies, St. Jude Medical, Inc. and Control Data Corporation, before retiring in 2005.

Peter also serves on the board of the St. Croix River Association and the Trust for Public Land Minnesota Advisory Board. He's a trustee of Northland College in Ashland, WI.  

Peter and his wife, Mary, live in Saint Paul and Osceola, WI and have two children and three grandchildren.

Education: Magna cum laude graduate, Princeton University (1970) and the Stanford University Executive MBA program (1988)

Hobbies: Photography, skiing, hiking, and travel

Interesting book: The Man Who Loved China, by Simon Wincester

Environmental/Conservation heroes: Wendell Anderson, Chuck Dayton, John Herman, Dave Durenberger, Grant Merritt and Bill Whalen.

Last memorable vacation: Family reunion in southern Wyoming.

FMR Board member since: The Beginning.

Board committee: Executive

Favorite Mississippi River place, experience or memory: The Minnesota/Mississippi confluence and gorge area in Minneapolis.

Quote: "National parks are the best idea we ever had." — Wallace Stegner