LEWISTON – Peter Paul Jonitis, 94, died June 9, at Central Maine Medical Center.

He was born in West Fitchburg, Mass., on April 23, 1913, to Alice and John Jonitis. He graduated from Clark University and completed his Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

He joined the Bates College faculty from 1953 to 1967, and then was chair and professor of sociology at Florida Southern College until 1974. In 1982, he researched the Quaker contribution to early American penology for Haverford College.

He was commissioned by the governor of Maine as a member of the Board of Visitors to Maine State Prison at Thomaston. In 1965, he reported on issues of mental retardation in the state of Maine. He was a member and a recorded minister of the Society of Friends (Quakers).

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, to whom he was married for 61 years; his daughter, Karen Rhoda, and her husband, Don, of Perrysburg, Ohio; and four grandsons, Douglas Ratliff, his wife, Anne and their son, Joseph of San Antonio, Texas; Brian Ratliff, and his wife, Elaine and their son, Jackson of Hamilton, Ohio; and Michael Jonitis and Marc Jonitis of Lewiston.

He was predeceased by his son, Peter Paul Jonitis Jr. in 1985.

The family appreciates the exemplary care that Peter received during the final weeks of his life at Central Maine Medical Center and asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Peter’s memory to the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.