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The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is saddened to learn of the death of the museum’s fourth director, Peter Sterling. Mr. Sterling passed away at his home in Waynesville, North Carolina on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at the age of 81.
From 1982-1999, Peter Sterling lead The Children’s Museum. He is remembered for the development of many new projects including the Think Tank and the Eli Lilly Center for Exploration both of which were designed to encourage young people to conceive, experiment, and explore throughout their lives.
Mr. Sterling also oversaw the expansion of the museum with the addition of a new Welcome Center in 1988, the SpaceQuest® Planetarium in 1989, and the Cinedome Theater, and Festival Park in 1996.
Through all his efforts, he raised the museum’s national profile, cementing its place as a standard bearer for programming innovation and exhibit excellence. His legacy is the emphasis he placed on the museum’s duty to educate and enlighten its visitors. “If we truly believe that the young people who are with us today will be leaders in the global community,” he wrote in Museum Studies Journal several years ago, “then we must help prepare them for those responsibilities. We have the tools that make this possible.”
The museum family sends its deepest condolences to Mr. Sterling’s wife Lorna, his two daughters Melissa and Caroline, and their families.
