Peter G. Peterson

Peter George Peterson was an American investment banker who served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 1972 to 1973 during the administration of President Richard Nixon. Peterson was also chairman and CEO of Bell & Howell from 1963 to 1971. From 1973 to 1984, he was chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers. In 1985, he co-founded the private equity firm the Blackstone Group, and served as chairman. In the same year, Peterson became chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, a position he held until his retirement in 2007, after which he was named chairman emeritus. In 2008, Peterson was ranked 149th on the "Forbes 400 Richest Americans" with a net worth of $2.8 billion. He was also known as founder and principal funder of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting fiscal austerity.

Early life and education

Peterson was born on June 5, 1926, in Kearney, Nebraska. He was the eldest of three children (née Pavlou) and George Peterson (né Petropoulos). His parents were immigrants from southern Greece. He had one younger sister, Elaine, who died of croup when she was one year old, His father arrived in the United States at age 17, worked as a dishwasher for Union Pacific Railroad and roomed in a caboose. Peterson was first married from 1948 to 1950 to Kris Krengel, a journalism student at Northwestern University. He joined Market Facts upon graduation, a Chicago-based market research firm, in 1948. In 1951, he received an MBA degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business before returning to Market Facts as an executive vice president. ==Business career==

Business career

Peterson joined advertising agency McCann Erickson in 1953, again in Chicago, where he served as a director. He joined movie-equipment maker Bell and Howell Corporation in 1958 as executive vice president. He later succeeded Charles H. Percy as chairman and CEO, positions he held from 1963 to 1971. In 1969, he was invited by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III, CFR chairman John J. McCloy, and former treasury secretary Douglas Dillon to chair a Commission on Foundations and Private Philanthropy, which became known as the Peterson Commission. Among its recommendations adopted by the government were that foundations be required annually to disburse a minimum proportion of their funds. ==United States Secretary of Commerce (1972–73)==

United States Secretary of Commerce (1972–73)

In 1971, he was named assistant to the president for international economic affairs by U.S. president Richard Nixon. In 1972, Peterson became Secretary of Commerce, a position he held for one year. At that time he also assumed the chairmanship of Nixon's National Commission on Productivity and was appointed U.S. Chairman of the U.S.–Soviet Commercial Commission. During his tenure, Peterson was a strong critic of the rising financial debt of the United States. ==Post-Washington career==

Post-Washington career

Peterson was chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers (1973–1977) and Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc. (1977–1984). In 1985, Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman co-founded the private equity and investment management firm the Blackstone Group, and for many years Peterson was its chairman. At Blackstone, he made a fortune, including the $1.9 billion he received when it went public in 2007, that funded many of his charitable and political causes. , the first woman officer of the NOAA Corps (1972) ==Clinton presidency==

Clinton presidency

In 1992, he was one of the co-founders of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan citizens' organization that advocates reduction of the federal budget deficit. Following record deficits under President George W. Bush, Peterson said in 2004, "I remain a Republican, but the Republicans have become a far more theological, faith-directed party, not troubling with evidence."{{cite news In February 1994, President Bill Clinton named Peterson as a member of the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform co-chaired by Senators Bob Kerrey and John Danforth. He also served as co-chair of the Conference Board Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprises (co-chaired by John Snow). ==Later career==

Later career

Peterson succeeded David Rockefeller as chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1985 and served until his retirement from that position in 2007. He was also chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York between 2000 and 2004. Peterson funded The Fiscal Times, a news website that reports on current economic issues, including the federal budget, the deficit, entitlements, health care, personal savings, taxation, and the global economy. Most of his giving was to his own foundation, The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which focuses on raising public awareness about long-term fiscal sustainability issues. ==Political activities==

Political activities

From 2007 through 2011, Peterson was reported to have contributed $458 million to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, to promote the cause of fiscal responsibility. Peterson opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 because it cut corporate and other taxes by raising the debt. "Mortgaging our fiscal future for trillions in temporary tax cuts will hurt our economy over time, and every C.E.O. should know that", he said. "True business patriots need to advocate for their country as well as their company." ==Personal life==

Personal life

Peterson was married three times and divorced twice. They divorced in 1979. In his autobiography, Peterson recalled his business and private life and blamed himself for the failure of two of his three marriages but expressed pride for having grown close to his children. Peterson died on March 20, 2018, at age 91, of natural causes at his Manhattan home. He is survived by his children, his wife Joan, and nine grandchildren. ==Honors==

Honors

In 1962, Peterson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In recognition of his support, the influential Peterson Institute for International Economics was named in his honor in 2006. In 2006, Peterson was honored with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution. The same year he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ==Writings==

Writings

• "Why I’m Giving Away $1 Billion", Newsweek, May 30, 2009 • "You Can't Take It with You", Newsweek, April 7, 2008 • "Old habits must change", The Banker, 3 January 2005 • Articles published in "Foreign Affairs" 1994–2004. Books • Facing Up: How to Rescue the Economy from Crushing Debt and Restore the American Dream. Simon & Schuster; First Edition (November 8, 1993). • Will America Grow up Before it Grows Old: How the Coming Social Security Crisis Threatens You, Your Family and Your Country. Random House; 1 edition (October 8, 1996). • Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America—and the World. Three Rivers Press (September 26, 2000). • ''On Borrowed Time: How the Growth in Entitlement Spending Threatens America's Future'' with Neil Howe. Transaction Publishers (May 1, 2004). • Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It. Picador (June 16, 2005). • The Education of an American Dreamer: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Wall Street, and Beyond. Twelve (June 8, 2009). ==References==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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