News

SEA is sad to announce the passing of Peter O. Willauer, a Founding Trustee of SEA and Charter Trustee of Sea Education Association (SEA).  He passed away on November 6, 2025, at home in Maine surrounded by family. Throughout his long association with SEA, Mr. Willauer offered steady leadership, deep commitment, and an abiding belief in the power of experiential ocean education. At the time of his passing, he served as Trustee Emeritus, reflecting a lifetime of service to the institution he helped shape. His dedication extended to his family as well—his sons Charles (W-40) and Langley (W-73) both participated in SEA Semester, with Charles continuing his father’s legacy today as a Member of the Corporation.

An accomplished sailor and lifelong mariner, Mr. Willauer completed a transatlantic voyage aboard Eight Bells in 2006, making the 17-day passage alongside fellow SEA Trustee Lee Campbell (W-60). His passion for the sea, his generosity of spirit, and his unwavering belief in SEA’s mission left an indelible mark on the organization and all who sailed with him. Affectionately called POW by those closest to him, Peter was a dear friend of SEA’s founder, Corwith Cramer.

Peter Willauer was also the founder of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School (HIOBS) in Maine – an organization he began a full decade before SEA’s launch. The connections between SEA and Hurricane Island – both with a commitment to the power of experiential education – have endured half a century and continue to this day.

In its first years, as with most start-up nonprofits, SEA relied heavily on its Board members for moral, financial, and administrative support. Peter and his fellow board members also networked tirelessly to spread the word about SEA’s important work in developing ocean stewards. Peter’s solid reputation as a blue water sailor, schoolteacher, and coach of the Naval Academy’s sailing program – along with his significant accomplishments at Hurricane Island – were critical to bolstering SEA’s credibility in its early years. The constituent base that POW helped to build has been critical to SEA’s decades of success.  

Peter was generous in sharing the lessons he had learned in starting HBIOS from scratch.  In the early days, Peter and the HBIOS staff provided valuable advice on food costs, accounting and budgeting, safety procedures, government regulations, insurance, laundry, items of equipment required at sea and ashore, and the myriad humdrum details that go unnoticed or are taken for granted but without which any such organization cannot operate.  

In subsequent years, as SEA ascended its own learning curve, Peter’s contributions to SEA’s governance were more strategic in nature; his wisdom and advice were always offered with encouragement and clarity. In the 1980s, Peter was part of the process that resulted in hiring HIOBS operations manager Rafe Parker to be Cory Cramer’s successor as SEA President.  Rafe’s extraordinary twenty years of service leading SEA was greatly enhanced by Peter’s continued willingness to be a sounding board for both Rafe and the Board during those challenging years of growth and change.  The lives of past, present, and future SEA students have been and will be shaped by Peter’s vision and dedication.

SEA will miss you, Peter Willauer: Bravo Zulu.