Peter de Florez, mystery man behind MIT's De Florez Fund for Humor

Sept. 29 is the deadline for applications to MIT's De Florez Fund for Humor, which "was created in 1988 by MIT alumnus Peter de Florez '38."

Peter's father was US Rear Admiral Luis de Florez, who graduated from MIT in 1911 (Mechanical Engineering).

In 1935, Peter de Florez and fellow MIT student Cornelius Roosevelt (grandson of Teddy) were arrested for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. "The youths were accused of peppering two policemen and a Boston newspaper man with pellets shot from air pistols on Nov. 20." (NY Times, "C. Roosevelt Freed In Air Pistol Case: Classmate Also Escapes Trial," Jan 14, 1936)

The NY Times reported that de Florez married Suzanne Humphreys Ford in 1948. His name appears on some patents connected with book binding and a 1962 patent for a "candy-making apparatus."