Peter T. Otis (Hraniotis), M.D., F.A.C.P. was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather who passed away peacefully in his home on March 4, 2021, three weeks before his 83rd birthday. Peter was born to Terry and Julia Otis in Boston, Massachusetts on March 23, 1938. He was married to Peggy Otis for 52 years and had three children: Terry, Stevie and Kaycee. He also had a younger sister, Marina Spiropoulos (Otis).

Born in the wake of the Great Depression, and only a few years before WWII, Peter's childhood was far from simple. His parents, both Greek immigrants, settled in Boston where they owned and operated a shoe repair, hat cleaning, and dry-cleaning shop. He spent his early years at his mother's side as she worked in her family's variety store and his uncle George's restaurant, The Stage Door, located next door to the RKO Theater. At the restaurant, he would have the delight of eating Uncle George's world class clam chowder, and the pleasure of glimpsing big band names like Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, and so many more. Some of his fondest childhood memories were spent on his Uncle Mike's boat, the Stage Play, fishing and secretly pulling up lobster pots. This is where he developed a love for boating. One time, out on the boat with his cousins, Peter saw a yacht sail by and said, "Someday I will own a boat like that." His cousins replied "You're the son of a cobbler! Never in your wildest dreams will you own a boat like that!" He would later prove them wrong!

At the age of seven, Peter began working in his father's shoe repair shop. Every day after school and on weekends he would shine shoes and clean spittoons. He put on a show for the customers, flipping brushes and snapping rags, which earned big tips from patrons like the mayor, bankers, and police officers. He brought his tips home to his mother every night, proud to be able to help her buy extra groceries or home furnishings. It was in his father's store Peter developed his strong work ethic and determination to excel in life. He also developed strong customer relation skills and a fearless nature. One afternoon, Peter saw a group of older boys smoking near a container of (highly volatile) ether next to the hat-cleaning store. His protective instincts kicked in, and Peter boldly confronted the group and fought them off to protect the family store. In doing so, he was stabbed in the stomach. Undeterred, angry, and bleeding, he and his father went to the police station to report the incident.

Peter went to high school at Boston English and went on to attend Northeastern University as a chemical engineering student where he joined the Army ROTC Signal Corps. While at Northeastern, Peter interned for Dupont. He and his mentor were attempting to make sheets of plastic, but instead kept getting plastic fibers. Frustrated, they would toss aside piles of these fibers, not realizing they were making what would later become known as polyester. During this time, he also attended Army Basic Training ("boot camp") at Fort Gordon, Georgia. He had to attend boot camp twice because during the first training course he was bitten by a rattlesnake, preventing him from completing the training. The rattlesnake did not survive the encounter.

Prior to his graduation, Peter's professors encouraged him to get advanced degrees in chemical engineering, and he was offered jobs at Dupont and Arthur D. Little. However, when his father got word of this, he said to him in Greek "What is this chemical engineering? You are going to become a doctor!" Peter revered his father and did not want to disappoint him, so to his professors' dismay, Peter attended Tufts Medical School. The Army issued him a Delay in Call to Active Duty so that he could complete medical school.

In medical school, Peter showed his determination and fortitude. During the day he would attend classes and at night, to earn extra money for tuition and books, he worked in the Massachusetts General Hospital laboratory with his mentor Althea King. Somewhere between attending classes and working, he studied. He pushed himself so hard that he contracted tuberculosis; but that didn't slow him down. He persuaded the administration and his professors to allow him to continue his classes, agreeing to sit in the back of the lecture halls, away from the other students, with a mask on (long before masks were all the rage). He graduated in 1964, 17th in his class. Immediately after medical school Peter started his one-year internship in New York at the Albany Medical Center, and then returned to Boston to attend his first year of residency at the New England Medical Center. At the conclusion of his first year, the Army called him to active duty.

Peter's third run of boot camp was at Fort Sam in Houston, Texas where soon after he was deployed to Vietnam in 1966. Promoted to the rank of captain, he served two tours in Vietnam. During his first tour he was in charge of a medical ward in two evacuation hospitals and during his second tour he commanded the first Prisoner of War Hospital. While on base, Peter's uniform wasn't exactly Army issue, it generally consisted of plaid shorts, a white t-shirt, and a yellow beret. Ironically, because of his "uniform" Lana Turner walked by him during a USO show and yelled out "Hey, California!" Whether Lana's comment was prescient, or she planted a seed, upon his return from Vietnam Peter would settle down and spend the rest of his life in California.

Following his second tour in 1967, Peter was transferred to the Alameda Army Base in San Francisco. He was there for 11 months, working one day a week at the Army hospital and the rest of the time moonlighting at other hospitals and jobs. The extra money he made during his time both in Vietnam and in San Francisco he would send home to his parents, which helped pay for his sister's college education and other needs.

On July 4, 1968, Peter was honorably discharged from the army and moved to Southern California to finish his last two years of residency and his two years of hematology oncology fellowship at USC. It was in Southern California he found the love of his life.

The word got out that an eligible Greek doctor had moved to the area, and through the Greek grapevine (the sister-in-law of Peter's Uncle Nick lived six blocks away from Peggy's house in Los Angeles), Peter was introduced to a beautiful 23-year-old teacher named Peggy Theophilos on Friday, September 13, 1968. For these two, Friday the 13th would be the luckiest day of their lives. What won him over on their first date wasn't just the fact she was beautiful, intelligent, and kind, but she graciously thanked him for the evening. At that moment he knew that she was the girl he wanted to marry. Never one to miss a tax break opportunity, Peter married the love of his life three months later, on December 29, 1968. For the next 52 years they would face the world together, side by side, hand in hand. Together they were an unstoppable force. Peggy was at his side to the very end.

After they married, they lived in South Pasadena until he finished at USC. They then relocated to Orange County CA in 1972, where Peter went on staff as a professor at UCI both teaching at the medical school and attending on the wards. He also did extensive research in hemophilia and published many papers. In 1974 he opened a small practice sharing an office alongside a gastroenterologist. Within six months his practice grew so quickly that he opened his own practice on February 1, 1975 in the medical office complex next to Anaheim Memorial Hospital. He ran the medical group, as well as his special coagulation laboratory and Xray center for twenty-eight years. In addition to running his practice from 1980 to 2000, twice a week he would drive to USC and volunteer his time as a hematology professor.

In 1976 Peter met his "other woman", the Wildest Dream, a 57-foot Chris-Craft Constellation, his childhood dream come true. He and his family spent countless weekends and summers together on the boat, moored off Catalina. Peter and Peggy also bought their home in 1976, where they would live together for the rest of their lives.

In 2002, Peter retired from practicing and began traveling the world with Peggy. Together they walked on six continents and sailed every ocean. And over the next 20 years watched their family expand with the marriages of their children and the arrival of 6 beautiful grandchildren.

Peter was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather who fiercely loved and protected his family and his country. He started from humble beginnings, but through hard work, determination, and courage he became a well-respected successful doctor. After his family, Peter valued education above all other things. He tirelessly tried to impart the value of education to his children, always reminding them that "they can take away your house, your money, all your possessions, but they can never take away what's inside your head." Thanks to his relentless commitment to his education, Peter touched and prolonged the lives of hundreds of his patients. His colleagues admired and respected him, acknowledging that although he could be difficult to work with, he was a brilliant doctor and the greatest patient advocate. Peter will always be remembered for his intellect, generosity, strong character, toughness, and "occasional" temper. He loved fiercely, and the beneficiaries of his love have been blessed beyond words.

Peter's memory will live on in his wife, three children, their spouses, 6 grandchildren and all the patients and families whose lives he touched. He will forever be loved and remembered by them as one of the greatest men who ever lived.

Arrangements under the direction of Chapman Funeral Homes - Terry & Mary Harmon, Funeral Directors. Toll free (855) 628-0447.

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 Obituary notice for Chapman Funeral Homes. Please visit  www.chapmanfuneraldirectors.com  .
 
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