Pieter "Pete" Ditmars

Pieter "Pete" Ditmars died on September 1, 2026. He had rectal cancer that metastasized throughout his liver. His death was peaceful and full of grace and love. He died as he lived - with style and sly humor, a fair whack of stubbornness, and without fear. Pieter rocked the home hospice experience as only Pieter could. He was never bed-bound and, despite being on major meds, he kept up with myriad ranch activities (involving heavy and sometimes dangerous equipment) up until the morning of his death.

Most people who knew Pieter for the last 25 of his 65 years knew him as Pete, the "lamb man" or Pete, the rancher. However, Pieter had many lives prior to building Dunhill Ranch from the ground up.

He grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, loving baseball and Sherlock Holmes stories, playing the viola, going on a lot of fishing trips, and helping his father and his sister with countless carpentry projects and science experiments in the basement. He studied viola at the Eastman School of Music but decided the life of a professional musician was not for him and graduated as a math major from the University of Rochester. After college, Pieter moved to Boston, where he was a computer programmer in the early and exciting pioneer days of the Internet.

At an allegedly epic Halloween costume party that he hosted at his home during his Boston days, Pieter announced to everyone at the party that he was going to quit his job and go sailing in the Caribbean. It mattered not that he did not know how to sail. Pieter read a few books on sailing and tying knots and headed off to the U.S. Virgin Islands where he had many fine sailing adventures throughout the U.S., French, and British Caribbean as a mate and also as a cook on various charter sailboats. (He did not really know how to cook either but sweet-talked his way into that job, consulted cookbooks, and became an excellent chef.)

Pieter returned to the D.C. area where he met his future wife, Jessica (Aberly). They moved to Boston for Jessica to attend law school while Pieter and his best friend started a computer software company. After Jessica's law school graduation, Pieter and Jessica moved to New Mexico for Jessica's career, Pieter started the Albuquerque office of the software company, and the couple married.

Pieter enjoyed the challenge of starting and running a business but grew weary of producing computer software that would continually become obsolete as technology changed, and he and his partner eventually sold the company.

It was Pieter's and Jessica's first border collie, Dundee, who became the gateway drug/dog to Pieter's future life raising and selling grass-fed and grass-finished lamb, and later grass-fed and grass-finished steers, on Dunhill Ranch, a 1,010-acre ranch outside of Magdalena, New Mexico.

Pieter's life at Dunhill Ranch epitomized the best of who Pieter was as a person. He designed and built all the buildings (home and outbuildings) on the ranch. He was the plumber, electrician, carpenter, welder, heavy equipment operator, mechanic, mason, veterinarian,

farrier, computer technician, web designer, accountant, financial advisor, dog trainer, and Mr. Fix It for just about everything from a toaster to a backhoe. Pieter loved the challenge of figuring out how to solve some new problem and ranch life provided plenty of opportunities for problem-solving.

Pieter never worried about failing or not having the required expertise - he believed the only failure was when one stopped trying to learn. He never strove for perfection, although many found his extremely detail-oriented work to be pretty close to it. He cared deeply about creating order and beauty and always gave his all to the job at hand so that he could do it to the best of his abilities.

Pieter was loyal and pragmatic. He also was very sentimental, but not overly emotional. Although he could be cantankerous at times, Pieter was often generous and playful and lived a life of authenticity and integrity.

Pieter is survived by his wife, Jessica (Aberly), his beloved border collie, Blake, his sister (Monika Kinstler), sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law (Naomi Aberly/Larry Lebowitz and Rachel Aberly/Fred McLane), mother-in-law (Suzanne Aberly), and his nephews and their spouses/ families (Erik, Kristin, and Theo Kinstler, Alex Kinstler and Julia Marini, Matt Lebowitz and Caroline Haskins, and Ben Lebowitz).

There will be a private burial. Pieter did not want a memorial service but agreed to friends and family writing and sharing stories about him, provided that people took the time to write a story instead of just a passing platitude. You can read and share those stories and any fun photos at http://pieter.blkk.com.

Peter's arrangements are being handled by the caring professionals at the Noblin Funeral Service Belen Chapel, where an online guest register is available at www.noblin.com

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