Patricia Louise Peterson Werre left us for her next journey on January 30th, 2016. Her patience, knowledge and understanding will never be extinguished from the ones she touched, loved and cared about. And she will be loved forever by these same individuals.


Pat was born Aug. 30, 1954, in Long Prairie, Minn. She graduated from Minnetonka High School in 1972. Pat's college education spanned from the University of Minnesota to obtaining her Chemistry Degree and MBA from The College St. Scholastica in Duluth. Pat died peacefully at her home from GBM — brain cancer.


Her pleasures in life included spending quality time with friends and extended family and doing the same, providing and supporting as a wonderful mother and grandmother. She traveled both domestically and throughout the world for work. And when work ended, she would enjoy her own time taking in the variety of sites of interest with her husband Bruce. Pat enjoyed being outside with activities such as golf, downhill skiing, spring organization of her garden house, slow pontoon rides on the lake and sunsets from her dock swing at her home in Stillwater. She was of strong Danish ancestry, which assisted her in many ways of being tolerant of her surroundings and events she could not change.


Pat did change many things in her life, however. She was hired by Horst Rechelbacher to join Aveda in 1989 as a senior chemist, later being promoted to Research and Development director. Then in 2008, she was promoted to vice president R&D Product Development. Pat retired in January 2016.



Throughout her career she was instrumental in Aveda's growth and success by managing many different functional areas within Research and Development. She successfully handled oversight of formulation groups in Skin Care, Hair Care, Spa Products, Color Cosmetics and all associated products. In addition, Pat managed the Botanical Research Group, handling the development of active ingredients for Aveda products. She directed the Microbiology, Pilot Scale Up Groups, Performance Testing and the Aveda Corporate Research Salon. Pat also served on the International Standards Organization for cosmetic products and ingredients that label themselves as green and earth-friendly.


Prior to her employment at Aveda, Pat worked in development of many products including antiperspirants, hair relaxers, permanent waves, curl activators and a wide variety of skin care. In addition to beauty products, Pat helped conduct hypothermia research. Her job was to toss people hooked up to monitoring devices into Lake Superior. This led to the development of what is now called the "breathalyzers," which are used by law enforcement to determine alcohol consumption. Not only did she develop the tool, but she was a testing subject herself.


Another one of Pat's passions was being a teacher for Young Women in Science. She spent 20 years traveling throughout the nation promoting, channeling and expanding young women's inner scientific minds.