PETERSON, K. Berry - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

K. Berry Peterson, 61 for 20 years assistant US District Attorney in Tucson and a former Arizona attorney general died yesterday afternoon following a heart attack in his Roskruge Hotel Apartment.  He had been in ill health for several weeks.  Surviving were his sister, Mrs. Fred Blanc and two nieces, Miss Patti Blanc and Mrs. JC Gates of Tucson; two uncles, Joe Duckworth and Dr. Bert D. Peterson and two aunts, Mrs. OC Neier and Miss Mary Duckworth all of Indiana.  Mr. Peterson was a son of the late Dr. Charles and Hannah Peterson who came to Tucson in 1920.  Dr. Peterson was a widely liked and respected general practice and obstetrics physician.  K. Berry Peterson was born in Alamo, Ind and raised in Tahlequah, Okla where his father had his original practice.  He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with an arts degree in 1913 and was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar after receiving his law degree at the University two years later.  In 1917 he enlisted in the US Army and saw action in Europe for 18 months with the First Army’s 335th machine gun battalion.  He also earned a law degree at the University of Arizona after the war and became a member of the state bar after graduation in 1921 (sic).  He won two terms as Pima County attorney and in 1928 was elected attorney general of Arizona, the first Pima County Democrat to be elected to state office.  He served two terms as attorney general.  In 1932 he ran unsuccessfully on the Democratic ticket for governor.  He managed the successful campaign of Lewis W. Douglas when Douglas ran for US Congressman in 1927.  Since 1932 Mr. Peterson had been assistant US District Attorney for the Tucson area.  He was a member of Lodge No 385, BPOE, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Phi Alpha Delta, legal fraternity of the University of Arizona. He was a layman in the First Presbyterian Church of Tucson.  Funeral arrangements will be announced by the Reilly Funeral Home.  - kbz

Funeral services will be held at 11 o’clock this morning at the Elks Club, 9 Paseo Redondo for K. Berry Peterson, 61, assistant US District Attorney who died Saturday at his Roskruge Hotel apartment.  The American Legion will assist in burial rites at the Elks plot, Evergreen Cemetery.  Active pallbearers will be Frank Flynn, Harold Collins, John Haynes, Sr, Sparky Webber, Bryce Wilson and NZ Caruso.  - kbz