Peter Djordjevic

I will start by offering sincere condolences from the Marriott family - my father Richard, my sister Jody, my wife Suzanne, and myself. With the exception of my wife, we had known Peter since 1969 - more than 50 years.

Life is a series of events from cradle to grave.

I met Peter at Latymer Upper School, and we soon found that we had interests in common - snooker, horse racing, sport in general (as spectators) and we shared a sometimes dry sense of humor. Board games and card games also served to while away the weekends during the British rainy season - which I believe is 12 months out of the year!

Although I was in the class of 1976 at Latymer, in 1974 I headed back across the pond and Peter and I lost touch until the early 1980s. Our friendship instantly resumed as if there had been no gap of years, and once I was established in the travel industry I chose to take advantage of essentially free travel from the US to the UK - always planning in advance with Peter the best dates to visit focused around the important horse racing events.

Peter was a connoisseur of several things - high end audio, fine food, fine wine - and I'm sure there was more to it than that. Woe betide the chef that wasn't in top form when he chose their restaurant for dinner!

When I exited the travel industry after 9/11/2001 - my trips to the UK became less frequent - the most recent one being in 2011 - so the dynamic shifted and Peter visited the US more frequently. We attended multiple Consumer Electronic Shows, where I was introduced to Kevin Halverson and Lucien Pichette, two of Peters suppliers who had also become friends with him.

Peter often stayed with us in Anthem, AZ when he was in the US - where we frequently reminisced about Latymer, the days of yore, and other important worldly topics!

Most recently, Peter had decided to expand his high end audio business into Scottsdale, Arizona. When he was last here in November 2019 he had organized the business structure and designed the marketing with a publisher I knew in Tucson.

He was on the verge of returning to launch the business when Covid struck the world with a vengeance, and everything went upside down very quickly. I spoke and emailed with him several times during that time, the most recent being last month.

Peter had a penchant for finding and using complex, multi-syllable words in sentences and then challenging who he was talking with to define the word.

As I was talking with my wife the other evening about Peter, I was making a note on my iPhone. I was typing the word "around". I got as far as "ar" when auto correct kicked in and suggested the word "saprophytic"!

What in the world is that I exclaimed! Checking the dictionary I learned "obtaining food by absorbing dissolved organic material" first used in 1882. A perfect example of a word Peter would have loved. Or was he influencing my auto correct It's a pretty big leap from "ar" to "saprophytic"!

And now it's time to say farewell - at least for now. See you on the other side Pete.

You will be sorely missed.

Tony Marriott

When we needed to say something in earnest, music always worked better than words: How I wish you were here.:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6mFkJmJqdDVQ1REhVfGgd1si=a271df475c2640e0

Rest in Peace Peter. Having known you for over 50 years, including living next door in the 70's, I'm glad we managed to keep in touch over all these years, most recently in August on a beautiful evening of racing. You were taken too soon.

I have known Peter all my life. We were born on the same day in adjacent beds in the same hospital in west London. We went to Fielding Infants and Junior schools together, I often stopped at the house on the corner of Midhurst and Salisbury roads to pick Peter up before walking to school. We then both went to Latymer. After school we lost touch but met again at a school reunion. I wil miss his cheeky smile and sense of humour. May you rest in peace.

I will miss our spirited discussions, of which there were many, none which overshadowed our friendship.

I will always remember the good times we had together. Thanks for being a friend, I will miss you.

Dear friend,
We will miss you.