Peter J. Olin

Peter J. Olin, friend and mentor to gardeners and nature-lovers across generations and throughout the world for his service as Director of the renowned Minnesota Landscape Arboretum from 1984-2008, died on June 30, 2025 in St. Paul. He was 87. 

As the Arboretum’s third Executive Director, Mr. Olin significantly extended and enriched the legacy left him by his predecessors, Leon Snyder and Francis de Vos, making it both an important resource for research scientists and an invaluable, accessible source of recreation, education, inspiration and solace for the general public. During his nearly quarter-century tenure, Olin oversaw robust growth in membership, staffing, programming, attendance and financial support as reflected in expansion of the Andersen Library and the Marion Andrus Learning Center, construction of the Oswald Visitors Center, development of on- and off-site children’s educational programming, and creation of a model Therapeutic Horticulture Program. Olin’s decades of tireless travel and persistent person to person fundraising efforts helped seed the growth of the Arboretum’s global gardening outreach programs while continuing to cultivate locally rooted educational programming for Minnesota kids with on-site exhibits like “Secret Gardens,” “Totally Terrific Treehouses,” “Big Bugs” and “Art to A-Maze and off-site/mobile programming like “Urban Gardens” and the PlantMobile for schools in St. Paul and north Minneapolis. “Those are the kinds of things I like,” Olin related to a reporter upon retiring in 2008: “social programs using gardening as a venue.” 

Mr. Olin was born in Hartford, CT on April 16, 1938, and grew up in nearby North Granby. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Cornell University, did postgraduate work at the University of California in Berkeley and received a Master of Landscape Architecture degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1971. Transplanted to Minnesota in 1974, Mr. Olin served as Professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Nature Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota before, during and after his 24-year appointment as Director of the Landscape Arboretum. 

Mr. Olin’s contributions were widely and warmly recognized by peers over the years, including:

 • President, Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects • President, National Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture • Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects • American Public Garden Association Award of Merit • Garden Club of America Medal of Honor • Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association Hall of Fame 

As large and impressive as Mr. Olin’s public reputation is, the warm personal regard and affection friends and neighbors so easily exchanged with him over the years was, for him, of even greater importance. He was a “gentle giant”: tall, imposing, with a thick shock of hair, sparkling eyes, a low warm voice and easy smile erupting into a rumbling laughter beneath his iconic bushy mustache, people naturally gravitated toward him. 

A longtime member of Olivet Congregational Church in St. Paul, he served as Deacon, Chair of several committees, (including Community Works and Buildings & Grounds), and was elected Moderator of the Church Council for two terms. Peter and Bonnie Olin celebrated their 48th Anniversary shortly before he died, having married in June of 1977. Their daughter, Zubi, went to college in southern California and lives there now with her husband, Michael DeFalco. 

He is preceded in death by his parents, Hilding and Ruth Olin, and brother, Donald Olin. 

He is survived by his wife, Bonnie (née Eidsmoe); daughter, Zubi Olin (Michael DeFalco); and brother, David (Linda) Olin. 

A memorial service will be held at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in August 2025 (date and time pending). 

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum or Olivet Congregational Church.

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