Peter Jensen

Peter Yde Jensen, 78, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on January 9^th, 2023. He was born in Aarhus, Denmark on September 12, 1944 to parents Wagn and Anna Jensen.

Peter grew up in Aarhus, a shipping town on Jutland and the second largest city in Denmark. He and his two older sisters, Inge and Hanne, were all born during the German occupation of Denmark in World War II in a modest, three-story, terra-cotta roofed townhouse, which the family shared with both sets of Peter’s grandparents. It was in this home, when Peter was just six weeks old, that the family waited out the terrifying daytime Halloween bombing in an air raid of the Gestapo headquarters at nearby Aarhus University, where his father often worked as a gardener.

Despite economic hardships after the war Peter experienced a vibrant and active childhood in the house on Fridtjof Nansens Vej. He walked to elementary school at Skovvangskolen, where he had many friends and was star player on the soccer and handball teams. Peter was a fixture in the neighborhood, where he endeared himself to neighbors while biking through the streets delivering newspapers. He credited his paper route with instilling in him the strong work ethic that would remain a central part of who he was for his entire life. Peter was a superb athlete throughout high school and, like a true Dane, loved a good party.

From 1961-1965 he apprenticed at W. Venge Petersen, an import-export company in Risskov. It was the beginning of a long and very successful career in sales and marketing. The job at Venge Petersen ended early when he was drafted into the Danish army in May 1965. The discomforts of military life were eased three months into his service when he earned a coveted office clerk job after being the only servicemember to pass the driving test for every vehicle at the base, including a motorcycle with a sidecar and a WWII-era British lorry with unsynchronized gears.

After his military service, Peter worked briefly as an assistant sales rep for Addressograph-Multigraph before attending Danish Commercial School in London, where he studied English. In 1967, he worked as a sales rep with Celebrity Foods in England, covering Manchester and Birmingham. He returned to Denmark a year later, before taking a job with Plumrose. He rose through the ranks of the Danish meat company, working in Copenhagen and England. The job brought him to the United States in 1969 and was promoted to area manager for most of the country east of Denver. He was named “Man of the Year” by Plumrose in his first year in the U.S. for his robust sales. From January 1970-January 1972, he logged over 50,000 air miles and 20,000 car miles selling the company’s products.

It was on one of Peter’s many sales trips in 1969 that he crossed paths with Judy Leeuw at The Cat’s Meow, a nightclub in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At the time, Judy was a single mom raising two daughters, 5-year-old Elisabeth and two-year-old Jane. After dating for four years, Peter and Judy were happily married on November 24, 1973 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Fort Wayne, Ind. Three years later after moving to New Jersey, Peter was the official father of four daughters after welcoming the birth of his twin daughters, Jennifer and Diana, and adopting Elisabeth and Jane. The growing family soon moved back to Indiana when Peter purchased a food brokerage company called LVS in Indianapolis.

The company grew rapidly under Peter’s leadership and moved to a much larger facility in Greenfield, Indiana in the early 1980s. As CEO of LVS, Peter traveled much less for business, allowing him to be home for dinner every night for a meal with his family. With success in business, however, Peter and Judy traveled the world on pleasure that included frequent trips to Europe, a trans-Atlantic crossing on the QE-2, and trips to the far East and South America. After selling LVS Food Distributors in the early 1990s, Peter quickly put his entrepreneurial spirit to work by building a warehousing business named Indiana Cold Storage and later purchased Emgee Meats, and Indiana-based ham company. He semi-retired in the early 2000s after selling both Emgee and Indiana Cold Storage. He spent the last two decades managing Jensen Properties, a company with a growing portfolio of commercial real estate investments.

Peter’s first passions were his family and friends. Up until recent health challenges, he spoke almost weekly with his friends Peter Glint and John Nillson, colleagues from his Plumrose days who were like brothers to him. Throughout his life in the U.S., he regularly made trips to his home on Fridtjof Nansens Vej to visit with his parents, sisters, nieces, and nephews. He enjoyed parties, especially celebrations of life, and brought the Danish tradition of honoring round birthdays to the U.S. when he threw spectacular parties for his 40^th birthday at the Scanticon in New Jersey and the Bellagio in Las Vegas when he turned 60. He enjoyed playing tennis and squash, and cherished spending summers at the family home in Lake Wawasee and winters on the beach in Captiva, Florida.

His third passion was finance. He loved numbers and managing his own investments. He boasted that his portfolio frequently outperformed those managed by his financial advisors.

It was a long, beautiful journey for the paperboy born from Aarhus, born to humble beginnings during the blitz of WWII. We will all miss him dearly.

Peter is survived by his loving wife, Judy; his daughters: Elisabeth, Jane, Jenny, and Diana; his seven grandchildren: Will, Cassius, Maria, Cameron, Grace, Marion, and Kendall; his two sisters: Hanne and Inge; and his dear friends: Peter Glint and John Nillson.

He is preceded in death by his parents Wagn and Anna.

Visitation will be Thursday, January 12th, from 4-8pm at Flanner Buchanan- Geist. His funeral will be Friday, January 13th, at 1pm, at the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament of Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to NeuroHope.