Designer, visual artist, and calligrapher Friedrich Peter of Vancouver, B.C., was born in Dresden, Germany, 1933. Hishopes to study at the College of Graphics and Book Arts, Leipzig, East Germany, were dashed because he failed the political interview of the entry examination. He moved to West Berlin, a free enclave behind the Iron Curtain, where he was accepted by the Academy of Visual Arts. Graduating six years later, 1957, with his wife Christine, a refugee from East Germany, he explored leaving Germany. The U.S.A. required sponsors and possibly military service; New Zealand meant working on a sheep farm for one year, and his wife serving as a domestic for nine months. A Canadian Rockies poster enticed them to seek out the Canadian consulate. There an immigration official listed them as sign painters “to make them more employable” and recommended they move to Vancouver. Immigrating to Canada, 1957, from Montreal they took a train to Vancouver. Friedrich became an instructor at the Vancouver School of Art in 1958 and continued to teach at its successors, the Emily Carr College and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, until 1998. Besides teaching, Friedrich worked creatively in different areas of visual design and art. He continues to be actively involved in design, painting and exhibiting, calligraphy, typeface design, drawing and book illustration. He designed postage stamps, coins, and medals including the issues commemorating Canada's National Anthem, 1980; patriation of Canada’s Constitution, 1982; and the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope, 1982. His winning designs include the 1998 four 50-cent proof coin Sports Series of the Royal Canadian Mint, $100 gold coins for the Constitution, the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, 1988, and its official Sports Medal. His typeface design work has been awarded in several international Typeface Design Competitions. The widely used “Vivaldi” and “Magnificat” fonts, publications, and traveling exhibitions of his calligraphy as well as his book illustrations, made his work known abroad. He was elected member, Royal Canadian Academy, 1974. Commissions include large banner murals for the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, the MacPherson Centre, Burnaby, B.C., murals for Trinity Western University and Regent College, the University of B.C., and street banners for the City of Vancouver. Friedrich and Christine who have raised three children, all born in Canada, believe that “God’s guidance, not our dreams of freedom ... brought us to Canada.” In this view, Friedrich Peter stands in front of a Scripture mural-painting for the Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C., unveiled, year 2000. Inset is the Marathon of Hope stamp commemorating Terry Fox’s historic run across Canada, 1982. [Photos, courtesy Friedrich Peter/Canada Post Corporation]