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Friends & Family
Gabriel Walsh
Gabriel Walsh coded this website.
He claims he has all the best toys.
Friends & Family
Rebecca Campany
Rebecca Campany produced this website.
She loved Peter dearly, but she never learned to love dolls.
Friends & Family
Edie
Purveyor of Edie's Shopping bag, subject of a documentary by Peter.
Friends & Family, Places
1970s
doug in orioles hat
Friends & Family
1970s
Summer 1981 under the porch at The Farm. Peter and I were doing pick and shovel work planting scores of white pines as screening from an encroaching development. We never looked so buff before or since. 40 years on those pines are looking pretty buff too.. (First-class brickwork on porch by Bob Friedman)
Peter and Ala
Ala - Mom's childhood friend, who was rescued by my father from the Warsaw Ghetto.
Friends & Family, Places
1970s
Russ Smith
Russ Smith, publisher and columnist Splice Today, Baltimore City Paper, Washington City Paper, and New York Press at the Hampstead Memorial Croquet Tournament.
Friends & Family, Places
1970s
Van Smith
Dear Van, in his movie makeup trailer office.
Movies & TV & Theater, Friends & Family
1970s
london 1970
In London after Peter's service in Communist-era Poland as a State Department foreign service officer.
On previous visits to London, Cissie would sew LSD and hash into the inseams of Peter's clothing to smuggle back to Polish youth.
Tip, Kate, Llewellyn, Cissie, Peter (with back to camera)
Friends & Family
May 1971
teaching at Federal City College
Students in Peter's classroom at Federal City College. (Now University of the District of Columbia.)
Friends & Family
1972
Jean with an admirer, Witold Orzechowski, Polish film director
Friends & Family, Movies & TV & Theater
1980s
Screaming Jay Hawkins headshot
Friends & Family
Peter introduced Screaming Jay to me and Circus. The Koper spirit lives on they Screamin Jay’s music.
Gina, Screaming Jay, and girlfriend
That time that Screaming Jay's girlfriend wanted to show off her new washer and dryer to Peter and Gina.
Side story: Jim Jarmusch wanted to use I Put A Spell on You in Stranger Than Paradise. Peter made the connection
Friends & Family, Places
1980s
Memorable professor
At Hofstra University, Peter stood out as a frank, discerning and supportive professor whose direction helped make me a successful journalist. He was stinting in his praise, so when he did note good work, it meant a lot. I took news writing, feature writing and magazine writing courses with him.
He urged us to get off campus and cover real news — be it an accident, court trial, or election return. "You're not going to learn about journalism covering the garden club," he explained. Indeed, he treated us like adults, handing us blue, wallet-sized cards that said, "Hofstra News Service." No such service existed. No matter. It was our ticket to venturing into the real world. He also expected us to know what was going on out there.
"You have to read The New York Times every day," he said. At times, he was hard-core, suggesting that we write about spending a night in a homeless shelter. I wasn't so brave. But I did write a feature about the people who serve food at a soup kitchen in Hempstead, and in the process, they put me to work in the kitchen. Peter also was a stickler for language, primarily pointing out words to avoid. Like Strunk and White, he preferred the specific to the general. Or as he put it, "Various is a castration word." Really, Peter was my first editor and provided a hint of what was to come: a hard-to-please bunch of men and women who would read my stories critically, suggest how to make them better, and at times, offer words of encouragement. After college, I still had a lot to learn, both as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer. But Peter prepared me for the life of a journalist. His lessons stick with me to this day — 36 years later. And for that, I'm forever grateful.
Friends & Family, Writings
1980s
Sally Jane and Ellen
Friends & Family, Travels
1984
Your wedding!!!! My date Ellen .. and what a wedding it was!! I will never forget this joyous celebration of the love between Peter and Gina Koper!
Vince and Delores in Skylark
Vincent Peranio and Delores Deluxe luxuriating in Peter and Gina's 1968 Buick Skylark custom convertible on a long-anticipated visit to the east end of Long Island.
Friends & Family, Places
1986
Anne Beatts
Anne broke the boys' club at Saturday Night Live as the first female writer. In a funny bone life full of yucks, she was Emmy nominated five times, winning once.
Friends & Family, Places
1988
Cookie Mueller 1949 - 1989
There was never enough time for Cookie, there's never enough time for any of us. Cookie rushed through people's hearts with zest, peeing her pants with laughter, exasperating, heartbreaking, leaving footprints of memories.
––From the New York Press November 19, 1989
Friends & Family
Nov 17, 1989
lady on hammock in springs Nini Nichole - Amos's wife
Friends & Family
2000s
NiNi chilling in the Springs
Peter and Jack
Friends & Family, Places
I didn’t know Peter loved those rubber chickens as much as Jack did! And Jack DID love them!❤️
A prince of Prince Street
Friends & Family, Places
Mar 12, 2009
He's not just "the dog", he's the rare example of a purebred NoLita Terrier!
Laissez les bon temps rouler
Friends & Family
2010s
Peter and I at Amos and Nini’s wedding in New Orleans ❤️
Amos and Nini at wedding
Friends & Family
Voodoo Wedding. Peter introduced me to gospel of Voodoo and Her spirits. Peter’s spirit definitely lives on via the Voodoo.
Jim Gardner and Gina!
January in Iceland's Blue Lagoon with dear friend, Jim Gardner.
Friends & Family, Gina!
Jan 2017
I love this photo. Jim loved you! So glad to have those memories
Rude Boy
I met Peter in Mekong, the Vietnamese restaurant and bar on Prince St. I liked him immediately. Since then we would get together many times. We could speak Polish on a full spectrum of subjects such as history, literature, movies, art, etc. His background and biography gave him a unique perspective. He was certainly a wise old man with an encyclopedic knowledge of socio-political issues. Yet, he totally preserved a boyish attitude and enthusiasm. No wonder that he hung out with John Waters and his crowd. His appetite for fringe and all things alternative was legendary. He loved things bizarre and quirky, yet you could feel that inside was a very good and decent mensch. We had a lot of fun not only talking and drinking till dawn but also we collaborated on a few batshit crazy art projects such as Rude Boy - where we created this fictional character who was an anti-establishment maverick and a perfect reflection of Piotr Koper. I will miss him..
-Maciej Toporowicz