Florida & Aiken SC examiner Peter Beller has passed away

(from the Aiken Standard newspaper)

On Friday, March 12, Peter Beller, 62, lost his fight with cancer and passed away at his home with his wife Hazel by his side.

He retired to Aiken after a long career both in law enforcement and successfully running his own business as a polygraph expert. Beller worked for the State Attorney's office in Florida prior to retiring. He was involved in several high-profile cases and was regarded as a national expert.

Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., Beller lived in St. James City, Fla. He moved to Aiken with the intent to retire after 38 years of service; however, his professional reputation preceded him, and it wasn't long until he was asked to become a part of the Aiken County Sheriff's Office team in the Criminal Investigation Department.

Beller conducted polygraphs and secured confessions in Aiken County for nearly 3¬½ years before his illness sidelined him.

Loved by his friends and family, Beller is described as a man who made an impression on everyone he met.

"From the moment I met him, I felt like I had known him forever," said his friend Jim Rutland. "I left that day with a friend and I came back almost every day since."

Rutland's son Justin first met Beller when he was 9 years old. Justin and Beller became close friends and spent last year's Thanksgiving weekend together in Franklin, N.C.

"He was my trash-talking teacher. I went to the mountains with him and left talking just like him," said Justin. "I will miss him until the day I join him."

"He was like a dad to me. He was a good friend. I so enjoyed his company and just talking to him," said Jamie Gregory, a friend of the family. "I'm going to miss his laugh; he had such a unique laugh. He was truly one of a kind. He touched so many lives, whether you met him for just a few seconds or for years."

"To know Pete is to love Pete. Memories are a wonderful gift, and we all have them of Pete's laughter," wrote another friend Brenda Chapman, of Punta Gorda, Fla., in a recent letter to the Bellers.

"How does a man move somewhere like Aiken, S.C., and so quickly become loved by everyone?" asked Wynn Whalen, a longtime friend from Florida. "There wasn't a mean bone in his body.

"He was so talented professionally. He could get a confession from anyone," said Donald Whalen, who worked alongside Beller at the State Attorney General's office in Florida. "We will miss his sense of humor and his contagious laughter, but what we will miss most is a great friend."

Beller and Hazel were soul mates from the day they met.

"My life began the day I met him on March 2, 1977. He was the love of my life," she said.

Funeral services including military honors will take place tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Christian Heritage Church, 285 Ascauga Lake Road, Graniteville.

Visitation will be on Thursday morning from 9 to 10 a.m. at George Funeral Home & Cremation Center, 211 Park Ave. S.W., Aiken.

Memorial donations may be directed to the American Cancer Society or to United Hospice, 211 York St. N.E., Aiken, SC 29801.

Expressions of sympathy for the Beller family may be left at www.georgefuneralhomes.com.