Peter Emil Hansen of Sag Harbor and Santa Barbara Dies October 7

Peter Emil Hansen died peacefully in his Santa Barbara home on Garden Street on October 7. He was 89.

Born in 1935 to Elwood Hansen and Josephine Gasser Hansen, he spent his childhood years in Elkhart, Indiana, where for several generations the extended family had owned and operated a successful brass business.

In 1947, the Elwood Hansens — including older sister Karen and younger brother, Jimmy — relocated to California after purchasing a ranch in Carpinteria, California. An always superior student, he attended Cate School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, then Pomona College, where he concentrated in English and philosophy. He also served in the U.S. National Guard at Camp Roberts near Paso Robles.

It was in Carpinteria in 1950 that he first met Whitney Brooks, daughter of Robert and Hope Brooks. He married her in 1959, and the couple first lived in Hollywood while Hansen studied Film at USC. On receiving his master’s in 1961, he, Whitney and their 1-year-old daughter, Hope, moved to New York City, where he had been offered a job at Leacock-Pennebaker, and where his wife’s older sister, Hopie Meryman, had already planted a family stake, specifically in the West Village.

Leacock-Pennebaker at this time was a pioneering studio in the field of cinéma vérité. Between 1963 and 1970, Hansen worked on the production and distribution of several groundbreaking films, such as “Don’t Look Back,” “Monterey Pop,” “Sweet Toronto,” and “Company.” It was also during this time that his second child, Brooks, was born, and his wife began her career as a woodcut artist.

In 1971, Hansen left Leacock-Pennebaker, moved uptown and embarked on a highly successful career as a television programmer, first with Time Life Films, then Arts & Entertainment TV.

A third child, Sam, arrived in 1974, while Hansen was establishing himself as the preeminent broker between the British and American television industries, especially in the area of prestige entertainment. The list of programs Hansen helped develop and produce in this time includes “Wild, Wild World of Animals,” “Alistair Cooke’s America,” “I Claudius,” “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and “Biography.”

Hansen’s tenure as head of programming at A&E was curtailed by a freak accident suffered in 1987; he was struck in the head by the shard of a glass tabletop that had blown off a 34th-floor balcony. Somewhat miraculously, he survived the injury and continued serving in an advisory capacity at A&E for five more years before finally retiring in 1993. Thereafter, he lived in Sag Harbor, and was a fixture of the local Historical Society, the library, Christ Episcopal Church, and various paths ponds, beaches and bays.

In addition to being an avid walker, swimmer, and body surfer, Hansen was a happy traveler. He read voraciously, and his command of world history was comprehensive. He was a concise writer and a voluble conversationalist, stylish in dress, elegant in bearing, and he enjoyed laughing — often, hard, and gooselike — thanks to a ready sense of humor that was by turns sophisticated, keen, and juvenile. He was a surprisingly good dancer (and whistler), a thoughtful mentor, honest in his appraisals, and possessed an uncommon gift for befriending the stranger. He was also quite beloved by all his grandchildren.

For much of the last two decades, he and his wife traded time between Sag Harbor and Santa Barbara before finally settling west, post-pandemic.

He is survived by his sister Karen; his wife Whitney; all three of his children; as well as six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held on November 23 at Cate School.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Sag Harbor Historical Society (sagharborhistorical.org) or the Santa Barbara Historical Museum (sbhistorical.org).