American fiscal conservative, politician, investment banker and businessman Peter George Peterson has an estimated net worth of $1.63 billion as of May 2016 according to Forbes. He is known to served as the United States Secretary of Commerce under the administration of former President Richard Nixon. He is the founder of The Peter G. Peterson Foundation where he is considered as the principal founder.

Peter Peterson was born on June 5, 1926 in Kearney, Nebraska. He had two unsuccessful marriages before he was finally married to Joan Ganz Cooney who serves as a stepmother to Peterson's five children from previous relationships.

Peter Peterson is an MIT-dropout who completed his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University as summa cum laude. He then started working for the market research firm Market Facts while completing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. After graduation, he returned to the firm as as an executive vice president.

After working at McCann Erickson, he joined Bell and Howell Corporation as Executive Vice President. Later on, he became the Chairman and CEO after replacing Charles H. Percy. He held the position from 1963 through 1971.

From 1973 through 1977, he served as the CEO and chairman of Lehman Brothers and from 1977 through 1984, he held the same position at Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc.

Together with Stephen A. Schwarzman, he co-founded the Blackstone Group in 1985 where he served as the Chairman for quite a long time. He earned a massive fortune from the company which enabled him to finance his various political and charitable causes.