Kenneth O. Peck, who headed education programs at the Missouri Botanical Garden for 24 years, died Thursday (Feb. 2, 2012) of complications of Parkinson's disease at Friendship Village in Chesterfield. He was 80.

Mr. Peck worked at the garden from 1957 until 1981. He and his wife, Abby, later ran a bed-and-breakfast lodge in Kimmswick, where he served as an alderman.

Mr. Peck taught classes for youngsters and adults at the garden in St. Louis and at its Arboretum (now the Shaw Nature Reserve) in Gray Summit, where he led classes through the woods.

"Technology has separated us from all of this," Mr. Peck said in 1971. "We have forgotten what it is like to trudge a meadow."

In 1981, he joined A.H. Hummert Seed Co., where he was a technical adviser 18 years. He also lectured on botany at area universities and high schools.

Mr. Peck was born in Cleveland and met Abigail Eades of St. Louis at Duke University in Durham, N.C., where they both studied botany. They were married in St. Louis in 1954. He served in the Army before joining the garden.

They lived in Webster Groves, where Mr. Peck served as an elder at Old Orchard Church (Presbyterian) for 40 years. In 1992, they moved to Kimmswick and bought the Wenom-Drake House, which had been built in 1877. Two years later, they opened it as a bed and breakfast and operated it until 2008.

Mr. Peck served as an alderman for 12 years and helped lead opposition to an unsuccessful bid to put a casino near Kimmswick. They moved to Friendship Village two years ago.

Visitation will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Gerber Funeral Home, 23 West Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves, and from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday at Old Orchard Church, 640 Amelia Avenue. A memorial service will follow at the church. Burial will be at St. Paul's Cemetery in Affton.

In addition to his wife, among the survivors are three daughters, Sylvia Mitchell of St. Louis, Janet Meyer of Manchester and Grace Cantino of Kirkwood; two sons, Kenneth Peck III of Chesterfield and David Peck of Ballwin; a brother, Norman Peck of Rye, N.Y.; and eight grandchildren.