Sonoma County Grand Jury by Peter Mashewitz

Peter and his wife have lived in Sebastopol for 26 years. Here we raised one daughter who, with her husband, is now raising a 16-month-old granddaughter in Walnut Creek.

In my early days, I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and eventually attended the University of Minnesota. At this school, I received a BS degree in wildlife biology. My first employment was at a small natural history museum in Chicago as a Naturalist/Staff Arist.

After a few years, I switched careers to corporate research, starting out as technician and gradually progressing to Senior Research Scientist. The areas of research included optical coatings, material science and plasma physics. In this second career I developed numerous new products and had 50 patents issued.

I retired about 10 years ago. As part of an effort to remain busy, I volunteered for 3 one-year terms as a Sonoma County Civil Grand Juror. For the last jury, I served as foreperson. Presently, I am a member of the Sonoma County Chapter of the California Grand Jury Association which is a helper group for the California Civil Grand Jury system.