Michael Jackson was one of Greg's steadfast friends. The day following Greg's death, the pop star visited Veronique (Peck's wife) and helped her plan the memorial service. The two men had been close for 25 years. Suprising to some, Greg was an outspoken defender of Jackson as a parent.
The bond was forged when 'The Gloved One' rang him up one day and asked to pay a visit. 'He had actually memorized all the dialogue in To Kill a Mockingbird,' Greg recalled, 'and he was full of questions about it.' As their friendship deepened, Greg accompanied Jackson on horseback rides at Neverland, the superstar's 2,600-acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley.
While Greg was all but canonized as a model parent, Jackson has drawn the world's wrath as an accused child molester. When accusations against the singer surfaced several years ago, Greg and Veronique praised the star in an open letter carried on Jackson's website.
Telling of the happy times the Pecks had spent with Jackson as well as with Prince Michael I and Paris (from his three-year marriage to his dermatology nurse Debbie Rowe) and Prince Michael II (by a surrogate mother), the Pecks said: 'We and our children, who are of your generation, have always admired you as a loving and caring father.' Greg also gave a glowing video tribute to Jackson at the singer's 30th Anniversary Celebration held at Madison Square Gardens in 2001.
