Listen to Peter Georgescu ’57 speak for 10 minutes, and despite the cynicism or complexity of today’s world, he will inspire you to make a difference for the next generation. First, there’s his vantage point: a long career with the prestigious advertising and marketing firm, Young & Rubicam. As chairman and CEO emeritus, Peter understands better than some what America believes about itself, and also what America truly is. Next, there’s his unusual childhood: seven years spent working in a Romanian labor camp with his brother and grandmother while his parents, Rica and Lygia Georgescu, branded as traitors in absentia, struggled to bring their boys to the United States. And finally there’s a personal story: how Principal Bill Saltonstall reached out to make a difference for young Peter, an immigrant at age 15, enabling him to begin his academic career at the Academy.

“My brother, Costa, and I arrived in the U.S. in April 1954,” recalls Peter. “The news coverage was extensive, and Bill Saltonstall called my father to say he’d like to do something for me. My father and I drove up to Exeter, and the three of us had dinner together. Afterward, Saltonstall said, ‘You may come on one condition: that you pass your courses on your own by the end of the year.’ He asked me what grade I’d like to enter, and I told him I’d like to be with boys my own age. And that was that; I had only a rudimentary command of English, but I became a lower-middler.”

Peter spent the summer in intensive English studies and arrived eager to absorb every last iota of the Exeter experience. “You must remember,” says Peter, “I had spent the last seven years with a bunch of policemen and my brother and grandmother. I was like a sponge. You could consider me as someone from the depths of Africa. Exeter was my door into the developed world.

“I certainly faced disadvantages, but I had advantages too, because of my experience. My work ethic was untouchable. I had more resiliency and perspective on life than your typical 15-year-old boy. So I was able to leverage my time at the Academy. It took effort, but it was also effortless. It was joyous to use my mind, to think about wonderful issues. I was like a starved kid eating ice cream.”

Peter did indeed leverage his time at Exeter. Not only did he pass his Exeter courses by the spring (gaining academic speed in each subsequent year), but he also went on to attend Princeton and then Stanford Business School.

“Of those three experiences—Exeter, Princeton and Stanford—there’s no question that Exeter towers in terms of its impact on my education and my development as a thinking adult,” says Peter. “It was about values, and developing a sense of balance among the multiplicity of lifestyles one had at Exeter: in the dorm, the classroom and athletics. Without question, I owe Exeter because Exeter laid the foundation in terms of work habits, analytical skills and ethics.”

This sense of gratitude is, in large part, the motivation behind a recent gift Peter and his wife made to the Academy. Barbara Georgescu, Peter’s life and business partner of 38 years, has an equally passionate and life-long commitment to education. Together they have established the Barbara and Peter Georgescu ’57 Fund for Curricular Innovation, designed to support Exeter teachers as they explore the world of education beyond Exeter and also periodically assess their own teaching and the Academy curriculum. The Georgescu Fund is already helping to advance the current school-wide curriculum review, now in its second year.

Gratitude to Exeter is not, however, the only influence behind Peter’s gift. It also springs from his absolute belief in the power of education. His personal history and chosen profession have given him a unique view into where the human family is headed—culturally, politically and economically—both here in the U.S. and abroad. He is convinced that education is the only long-term solution to the challenges we face.

“In the U.S., education is the only answer to our social ills, and by that I mean crime, poverty, bigotry—particularly against people of color,” says Peter. “But education is not an easy thing to give or to receive, because it takes hard work, enormous creativity, not to mention time, effort and money.

“On a larger scale, we need to connect the free enterprise system to the underdeveloped world, to those who are suffering. Education is the only way to bring those who are hopeless, and those who envy our way of life, into a more just society, one in which they can participate, rather than one they wish to destroy.”

Many changes are necessary to accomplish such a feat, and Peter believes that more thought must be given to what and how today’s students are taught. “Looking at the curriculum is one of the most responsible, imaginative initiatives any academic institution can undertake,” he explains, “because it’s not just about re-inventing the western Renaissance any more. This is a different, more formidable world. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What do our students need to know? What new equipment will prepare them for the journey ahead?’” Peter’s gift is helping Exeter to ask and answer these very questions.

Finally, on the most fundamental level, Peter is quick to point out that change in society can only be achieved if we all strive to become better people. “For me,” he says, “that lesson began at Exeter, and I’m still taking the course. With hard work and practice, it is possible.”

It’s not surprising to hear that this lesson began at Exeter. Peter’s words hark back to the guidance Bill Saltonstall gave a generation of students in citizenship, integrity and non sibi, especially during his chapel talks. “He was speaking to the whole school,” recalls Peter, “but I felt as if he were speaking directly to me.” Nearly 50 years later, Peter’s gift reflects that same ethos of non sibi. “Bill Saltonstall reached out and changed things for me,” says Peter. Now Peter is doing the same for today’s students. The world may be complex, but 10 minutes with Peter Georgescu will help you remember: sometimes it is possible, even simple, to make a difference.