Peter Gettinger, Financier and Producer
Peter Gettinger, a financier and movie producer who had a house on East Hollow Road in East Hampton Village from 1978 to 2005, died at home in Miami on Oct. 23. He was 84 and had been ill with cancer for 11 months.
He financed many films, including the Martin Luther King Jr. documentary “Montgomery to Memphis,” co-produced the feature “Force 10 From Navarone,” and produced two documentaries on China. In 1973, he was the executive producer of the made-for-TV movie “The President’s Plane Is Missing.”
Mr. Gettinger co-founded Hotel Films International in Paris, which led to American feature films being shown in hotel rooms around the world. Mr. Gettinger also founded First Czechoslovakian Capital Corporation, which provided micro-loans to small businesses in the newly formed Czech Republic.
Born in Brooklyn on March 21, 1928, to Edward Gettinger and the former Vivian Wollman, he was raised in Brooklyn and Manhattan. He was a graduate of Oberlin College and Cornell Law School and served in the Naval Reserve during the Korean War.
Mr. Gettinger became a partner in the Gettinger and Gettinger law firm, owned by his father, and later at Shea, Gould. He served as bank counsel to Trade Bank and Trust Company, National Bank of North America, and Bank Depot. He served as special counsel to the entertainment division of Chemical Bank, and as vice chairman and counsel to Commonwealth United Corp. He had offices in London, Paris, and Prague.
He was married on Nov. 24, 1974, to the former Whitney Andrews, who said they enjoyed many weekends at their East Hampton house. The couple and their children spent Christmas vacations there. Ms. Gettinger said her husband liked to garden and to photograph the beaches and dunes of the South Fork, especially at Georgica Beach. When he wasn’t traveling through Europe, Russia, and China, he enjoyed playing golf.
Mr. Gettinger is survived by five children, three from his first marriage to Mildred Manheimer, who died in the early 1980s — John Gettinger of Mount Kisco, N.Y., Ellen Grubbs of Atlanta, and Pamela Tucker of Cross River, N.Y. His two surviving sons from his second marriage are Geoffrey Gettinger of Arlington, Va., and James Gettinger of New York City. A brother, Dr. Stephen Gettinger, died before him.
A private memorial service will be held in New York City at a later date. Donations in his name have been suggested to the National Park Foundation, 1201 Eye Street NW, Suite 550B, Washington, D.C. 20005, or online at nationalparks.org.