Outward Bound USA Home
Honoring the Extraordinary Legacy of our Founder, Peter O. Willauer
Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025
It is with sadness that we share the news that our founder, Peter O. Willauer, passed on November 6th, 2025. Peter was a visionary educator, sailor, and pioneer whose influence will continue to shape the lives of young people for generations to come.
After graduating from Noble & Greenough School and Princeton University, Peter taught sailing to midshipmen at the Naval Academy. Later, he accepted a teaching fellowship at Phillips Andover while earning a master’s in education from Harvard. It was at Andover that Peter met Josh Miner and learned about Kurt Hahn’s Outward Bound movement. Hahn, a refugee from Nazi Germany, believed that true education pushes young people toward formative experiences rooted in perseverance, humility, and compassion, values that would come to define Peter’s life’s work.
Peter went on to establish three Outward Bound programs in the United States: Hurricane Island, Baltimore/Chesapeake Bay, and our own Cathleen Stone Island (formerly Thompson Island). Across all three, he blended courage, curiosity, and care to create environments where students could test their limits, connect deeply with nature, and grow in confidence and character. In 1994, he founded the Willauer School, a tuition-free charter school, on the island and operated it for 12 years until its closure in 2006.
September 20, 1994 on Thompson Island, Boston, on the day TIOBEC’s charter was granted.
Left to right: Brooks Thomas, Ross Sherbrooke, Peter Willauer, Nat Coolidge, Josh Miner, Jamie McLane, George Armstrong, Allen Grossman, David Beim.
Peter’s family has been an integral part of our organizational history. Before they were married, Peter’s wife, Carol Willauer, served as our dedicated VP for Development from 1994 to 1999. His son, Charlie, served as our Board Chair from 2013-2016. Peter’s nieces and nephew worked as sailing instructors for Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center. Peter served and Charlie continues to serve on our Trustees Emeriti board.
What distinguished Peter most was his conviction that learning happens through life itself, through adventure, reflection, and facing challenges head-on. He understood that navigating rough waters, literal or figurative, could be one of the most powerful classrooms of all. In doing so, he built not only programs, but communities anchored in shared purpose and trust.
Today we honor his enduring impact: the thousands of alumni who carry forward his lessons of resilience and service, the educators who apply his model of “learning through challenge,” and the enduring field of experiential education he helped shape. Peter’s legacy reminds us that education can be bold, inclusive, and rooted in place, and that by giving young people meaningful access to nature and discovery, we offer them a compass for life.
Peter, thank you for your vision, courage, and faith in what is possible. We are honored to carry forward your legacy. You charted a course that continues to guide us, and your wake still ripples through every student who steps onto our island. Our thoughts are with our colleagues at the two other organizations Peter founded, Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership where he served as Trustee Emeritus and the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School as founder and President for 25 years.
Please keep Carol, Charlie, and the entire Willauer family in your thoughts. We are filled with gratitude for Peter’s life, which impacted so many others. If you would like to pass a message along to CSIOBS or to the Willauer family, please email us through this link.
Sincerely,
Sylvia Watts McKinney, CEO & President
Cliff Krauss, Board Chair
