Peter Goelet Gerry (1879-1957), also known as Peter G. Gerry, was a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. Gerry was born in New York, New York on September 18, 1879, the son of Elbridge Thomas Gerry (1813-1886) and Louisa Matilda Livingston Gerry, and the great grandson of Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), the fifth vice president of the United States (who had given his name to the term gerrymandering). In the Summer of 1899, Peter G. Gerry and his brother, Robert Gerry, were tutored by William Lyon Mackenzie King, who later became a Prime Minister of Canada..
Peter G. Gerry graduated from Harvard University in 1901; studied law and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1906.
His first wife was Mathilde Townsend, a wealthy Washington society woman. They were married from 1910 to 1925. Gerry later married Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1873-1958), the widow of George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862-1914).
Gerry was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Rhode Island's 2nd District as a Democrat from 1913-1915. He was elected to the United States Senate from 1917-1929 and from 1935-1947. From 1919-1929, Gerry was a Democratic party whip. He has been described as a Wilsonian Moralist.
Gerry died on October 31, 1957 and was buried at St. James Cemetery, Hyde Park New York.
