Rudolph A. Peterson

Rudolph Arvid Peterson (December 6, 1904 - December 2, 2003) was the President and CEO of Bank of America.[1]

Background

Peterson was born into a family of six children in Svenljunga, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. He was adopted by his maternal uncle and aunt who emigrated in September 1905. At first they lived in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. In 1907 they joined a trainload of young Swedish families set out for California. They settled down in Los Angeles. In 1913 the family moved to Hilmar in Merced County, California, a Swedish immigrant farming colony outside Turlock, California. He graduated from the Hilmar High School[2] and the University of California at Berkeley, (B.S. 1925).[3]

Career

During his career he worked at Commercial Credit Corporation, the Transamerica Corporation, and the Bank of Hawaii. He joined Bank of America in 1936 and spent two decades in California before leaving for six years with the Bank of Honolulu. He was president of the Bank of Honolulu when he returned to Bank of America in 1961 as vice chairman. Bank of America named him president and chief executive in 1963. He retired at the end of 1969. In 1972 Peterson became Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, managing that body's economic assistance activities throughout the world.[4][5][6]

In 1965, Rudolph A. Peterson was selected by the two Swedish District lodges of the Vasa Order of America to be Swedish-American of the Year.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Finance Pioneer Peterson Passes Away (Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley)
  2. ↑ McCorkell, Jonathan (October 11, 2011). "Hilmar High celebrates 100 years: Three veteran teachers look back". Turlock Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  3. ↑ Rudolph A. Peterson, 98; Extended Global Reach of Bank of America (Los Angeles Times. December 16, 2003)
  4. ↑ http://www.undp.org/about/helen-clark-bio.shtml
  5. ↑ Rudolph A. Peterson, 58, elected this week to the presidency of the Bank of America (Time Magazine Friday, Oct. 18, 1963)
  6. ↑ Rudolph Peterson, 98, Chief of Bank of America in 1960's (The New York Times. December 11, 2003)
  7. ↑ Rudolph A. Peterson (Vasa Order of America)

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Paul G. Hoffman		 Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
1972–1976 		Succeeded by
F. Bradford Morse