Peter Koestenbaum, Ph.D. was a German-American philosophy academic. He was the founder and chairman of Philosophy-inBusiness™ and the Koestenbaum Institute. He consulted on leadership, management, marketing, and strategy implementation in nearly forty countries.

Peter was born to Jewish parents Ernst and Ilse on April 6, 1928 and raised in Berlin, Germany. He described jumping on his bed at the age of six and telling his mother that he wanted to become a philosopher and remembered being 10 yards away from Adolf Hitler as Hitler led a military parade in 1936. “I was scared to death. I knew it was bad.” Koestenbaum’s family moved to Caracas, Venezuela in 1937 prior to Kristallnacht, the night of widespread attacks on Jewish businesses throughout Germany that presaged the Holocaust.

In Venezuela, Ernst Koestenbaum went door to door selling products without being able to speak Spanish to support his family. Presbyterian leaders educated Koestenbaum in a safe environment, while Ernst hoped that Peter would become a coffee farmer.

In 1945, Koestenbaum, a brilliant student, matriculated to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California at the age of 17. At the time, Koestenbaum spoke German, Hebrew and Spanish, but not English. At Stanford he studied philosophy and physics and received a B.A. while working as a gardener in Palo Alto to support himself.

Koestenbaum received national media attention in the United States the in 1970s with his views on using the knowledge of one’s inevitable death to organize one’s life, and published books on the subject, including his most notable work called “The Vitality of Death“. He also co-authored more books with notable American author Peter Block.

He received a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. in philosophy from Harvard University,and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University. He also attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied music and philosophy. He taught for 34 years in the philosophy department at San Jose State University, where he won the Outstanding Professor Award for the 1969-1970 academic year.

Eventually, he decided to apply the insights gained in philosophy and psychiatry to business: management, strategic thinking, marketing, but above all to leadership. This journey took Koestenbaum to over thirty-six countries in five continents.

In California, he founded an accredited institute for teachers, nurses, physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists, teaching the uses of philosophy in education, psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy.

Peter then founded the Koestenbaum Institute with Scandinavian business leader Rolf Falkenberg, which conducted consulting, training, seminars and coaching, taking a fresh and deep approach to the clash between two imperatives of our time: business results and human values.

During his later years, Peter lived and worked with his wife Patty in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California. Their mission was to apply the power of philosophy to the big question of the day — how to reconcile the often-brutal realities of business with basic human values — and to create a new language of effective leadership.

Peter Koestenbaum passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 5, 2024, while living in an assisted living facility in San Jose, CA.

 

In celebration of his life, we would like to share this short film with you so you can witness the depth of wisdom, love, and admiration shared. Produced by Ward Mailliard and directed by Jess Fraser, The Vitality of Death shares a touching conversation about life, mortality, and friendship.