Businessman.
Born at Watertown, South Dakota on 15 August 1901, his family moved to Saskatchewan in 1912 and settled on a farm naer Maryfield. He left school at grade 9 to help on the farm but completed high school by correspondence and night classes after going to work for a chartered bank. After eight years with the bank, he began working for an investment dealer at Regina, later becoming manageer of its office at Swift Current.
In 1931, he joined the Canadian sales force of Investors Syndicate of America, becoming its Provincial Manager for Manitoba two years later. He was later was put in charge of all sales in Canada, with headquarters in Toronto. In 1940, Investors Syndicate was incorporated in Manitoba with its head office at Winnipeg, and he was made the senior Canadian Officer of the Company, being appointed President in 1946. In 1957, he played an instrumental role in making the company Canadian-owned, and it later became Investors Group, now IG Wealth Management. Peterson retired as President in 1966, but remained as the Chairman of the Board until 1971.
In retirement, he was involved in a variety of community organizations, such as the Heart Foundation, Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, Pan-American Games 1967 Society (Vice-President), Society of Crippled Children and Adults, Kiwanis Club of Winnipeg, and Community Chest of Greater Winnipeg.
He was married twice, first to Edna (?-1978) and second to Grace. He had a daughter, Jonina Peterson (wife of John McRae).
He died at Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 8 January 1989 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens. His honorary pallbearers were John Ansley, Chalre E. Atchison, James N. W. Budd, Percy Burdett, Charles H. Coveney, Gordon Foster, Gordon Harley, Andrew S. Jackson, Robert H. Jones, David Anderson Ritchie, and Douglas L. Slemmons.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Investors Building (280 Broadway, Winnipeg)
“Former Investors chief dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 January 1989, page 30.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 January 1989, page 33.
Theodore O Peterson, FindAGrave.
This page was prepared by Kris Keen and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 15 February 2025
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