Peter Salm

Peter Jerome Salm, Pete to his friends, passed away peacefully on April 7, 2025 at home in Lakewood Ranch Florida. Pete, a Midwesterner by birth and inclination, was a longtime Florida resident, tennis player, and sun tanner who treasured the more than 40 years he spent in his adopted home state. Pete was born in Evansville, Indiana to Jerome “Jerry” Salm, a prominent local businessman and attorney and Hannah Strauss Salm of Chicago. Pete graduated from Bosse High School and then went to Indiana University, from which he graduated in 1955 and stayed a lifelong Hoosier fan. After graduation, Pete accepted a commission as a Lieutenant in the United States Army. Because he had minored in German, the U.S. Army assigned him to Ft. Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland for training at the U.S. Army Intelligence School. While in training at Ft. Holabird, the dashing Lieutenant met a pretty and peppy dental hygienist from Baltimore, Dorothy Silverberg. This meeting and their marriage a year later started a 48-year romance which endured until Dorothy’s death in 2002. The Army assigned Peter and Dorthy to Kaiserslautern, Germany, where Peter served with the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corp and where their first child, daughter Karen was born in 1956. After an honorable discharge, Pete and Dorothy return to Evansville, where Pete took over as General Manager of Salm’s Department Store, a women’s and children’s fine clothing establishment. In 1960, Pete and Dorothy’s second child, a son, Marc was born. In 1968, 15 years after his undergraduate education and with a young family to support, Pete made the momentous decision to close the family business and follow his desire to attend law school like his father had done before him. Pete enrolled as a night student at St. Louis University School of Law, while picking up where he left off from his Army days by working during the day as an agent for the Naval Investigative Service, the predecessor to NCIS. Eventually, Pete transferred to the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) and was promoted to Trial Attorney upon his graduation from law school. The NLRB promoted Pete to Supervising Trial Attorney and in 1979 he transferred to the NLRB’s Tampa, Florida office. Having accomplished his goals of becoming an attorney, seeing his children off to college and graduate school, and being promoted to lead a team of trial attorneys, Pete wanted to live someplace which was as hot as possible as much of the year as possible. During his more than 25 years at the NLRB, Pete appeared in court many times representing the United States Government and enforcing the labor laws of the United States. As an attorney, Pete was known for his extensive knowledge of the sometimes-arcane American labor laws and his exacting application of the law. Pete earned the respect of lawyers on both sides of the union/employer divide, mentoring several young lawyers. As Pete said about other lawyers he admired, he was himself “a technician of the law”. Pete retired from the NLRB after Dorothy was diagnosed with cancer so he could care for her daily. After Dorothy’s death in 2002, Pete moved to Longboat Key. Pete had long been a devoted tennis player. While in Tampa, he played at Northdale Country Club. In Longboat Key, he played for many years multiple times a week, belonging to Cedars Tennis Club and playing on the under-70, under-75, under-80 teams where he served as captain. When Pete was not playing tennis, sitting poolside at Spanish Main Yacht Club, enjoying a cold beer and dinner at Harry’s, or rooting for his beloved Hoosiers, he was a common sight riding his bike shirtless on the path along Gulf of Mexico Drive or driving his convertible on “The Island”, carefully avoiding the traffic created by the snowbirds. Pete loved Longboat Key. The weather was never too hot for him and he spent hours sitting outside, which charitably made his skin look like fine Corinthian leather. Pete made many friends during his years in Longboat including his special relationship with Jane Shellhammer Oaks and her family. Pete’s only regret was that he could not find a warmer location that provided the same access to sun, beach, tennis, and friends he made over the years at Spanish Main. Peter Salm was a husband, a father, an athlete, an advocate, a soldier, and scholar. He loved a hot morning on Court 1 and the cold beer that followed. He strongly believed in what he did during his years of service both in uniform and in court. His honesty and integrity were legendary, as was his commitment to his family. All who knew Pete will miss him. Peter is survived by his daughter, Karen Padnos and her husband Mitch of Holland Michigan, his son, Marc Salm and his wife Ellen of Lakeland, Florida, and grandchildren Louis Padnos (Allie) of Birmingham, MI, Jonathan Salm (Lianna) of Long Island City, NY and Catherine Salm Flood (Tim) of Charlotte, NC.

The family asks that, if so inclined, friends donate to Moffitt Cancer Center.