Peter F. Eder of Darien has been selected by AARP Connecticut to receive the 2017 Andrus Award for Community Service, the Association’s most prestigious state volunteer award, for his outstanding volunteerism and commitment to the community.
Photo from the CT-AARP website
Peter Eder
Eder was recognized for his leadership as a community engagement specialist, focusing on home and community based elder programs.
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— an announcement, slightly adapted, from AARP Connecticut
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He is a founding and still active board member of At Home in Darien and currently serves on the Darien Commission on Aging and the board of directors of the Connecticut Retirement Security Authority. He has also been an AARP state and national volunteer since 2007.
“I am so thankful to all the caregivers and care receivers who have trained and inspired me,” Eder said. “Individually and collectively, they have defined for me ‘the common good.’ It is on their behalf that I joyfully accept this honor.”
The Andrus Award will be formally presented to Eder at a local ceremony in October.
The AARP State Andrus Award for Community Service is an annual awards program developed to honor individuals whose service is a unique and valuable contribution to society.
In addition to the recognition, AARP Connecticut donates $3,000 on behalf of the Andrus recipient to an eligible non-profit organization of their choosing. Eder has chosen At Home in Darien, an organization dedicated to helping seniors in Darien, Connecticut live independently, comfortably and with dignity in their own homes.
“Peter was instrumental in launching the ‘aging in place’ concept in Darien as a founding board member of our organization,” said Gina Blum, executive director of At Home in Darien.
“Peter’s vision and foresight helped create our organization but his dedication, experience, and hands-on involvement has made it a success. We are honored to be the recipients of the donation, which will allow us to provide important services that help seniors remain living independently in their homes and the community.”
The award is named for AARP founder, Ethel Percy Andrus, whose motto “to serve, not to be served” continues to shape our work years after she founded this association to help older Americans age with dignity and purpose.
Married since 1963, Peter and Kathy Eder have resided in Darien since 1992, and have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Eder is an active parishioner at Saint Thomas More Roman Catholic Church. He also served as a board member and then chairman of the board of trustees of the Saint John’s Foundation of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Stamford.
He retired from a successful career in the communications, marketing and media industry in 2006. At the time of his retirement, he was vice president and chief operating officer at David X Manners Company (DXM), a public relations firm in Westport.
Prior to joining DXM in 2000, Eder was a marketing and communications services executive at a number of firms including: Stromberg Carlson, GTE, GAF, The Singer Company and the Wahlstrom Group advertising agency. He also spent seven years at the Association of National Advertisers as Senior Vice President of Member Services.
Eder has been a member of the World Future Society since 1982 and has spoken at five of their World Congresses. He also served as contributing marketing and communications editor for The Futurist magazine, and as an Abstractor for The World Future Review, a journal of strategic foresight.
A native of Manhattan, he was graduated from City College of New York with a bachelor’s degree in industrial sociology. He earned master’s degrees in mass communications from the New School for Social Research and in interactive telecommunications from New York University.