Courage, Passion and Service
The NC State family is saddened by the loss of Jeanne Peck, a 25-year NC State staff member who passed away Sunday after a 15-month battle with lymphoma. A 20-year breast cancer survivor, Peck first worked as a database administrator for Administrative Computing Services before becoming the assistant director of configuration management and database administration within the university’s Office of Information Technology.
“Jeanne was one of those truly rare souls who made a better person out of anyone who knew her,” said Gwen Hazlehurst, director of enterprise application services at NC State. “Every day she helped to teach us all to be kinder to those around us, and her love for helping others never wavered – even as she fought the cancer that took her life.
Jeanne’s greatest passion was finding a cure for breast cancer. Thirteen years ago, she founded the NC Triangle Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure – a group that would be named Komen’s worldwide 2008 Affiliate of the Year for its efforts in eradicating a disease that affects more than 180,000 Americans each year.
“Jeanne’s enthusiasm, temperament and great courage were an inspiration to all who knew her,” said Nancy G. Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an international grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. “Her work for Susan G. Komen for the Cure – to end breast cancer forever – was a labor of love, and an example of determination and leadership that has done much for North Carolina and for the breast cancer community.
“Jeanne’s good works will be her legacy, and while we mourn her loss today, we are grateful that we were able to know her.”
The N.C. Triangle Race for the Cure, which Peck organized in 1997 after participating in similar events held in other cities, has grown into the largest foot race held in North Carolina.
The 2008 event attracted close to 24,000 participants and raised nearly $2 million for breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment programs.
“We surpassed all expectations, and it was a very exciting day,” Peck told ncsu.edu staff members last year. “The first race also meant a lot for me personally, because it was a celebration of my 10th anniversary as a breast cancer survivor.”
Peck found an early Race for the Cure supporter in NC State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow, herself a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed with the disease around the same time as Peck. Yow honored Peck with the “Courage Angel Pin” at NC State’s 2008 Hoops for Hope women’s basketball game – an award presented each year to a person dedicated to helping others fight cancer.
“Jeanne was obviously a special person for me to give it to,” Yow said. “I was really happy that she was chosen to be the person to receive it. She is so worthy because she has dedicated a lot of her life to helping others battle this disease.”
“Jeanne had a way of making hard work fun and always saw the good in people,” Hazlehurst said. “The hole she will leave in our hearts is immeasurable.”
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