Rudolph Arvid Peterson (December 6, 1904 – December 2, 2003) was an American banker who served as the President and CEO of

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

and Administrator of the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

Background

Peterson was born into a family of six children in

Svenljunga Svenljunga is a locality and the seat of Svenljunga Municipality, Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populo ...

, Västra Götaland,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He was adopted by his maternal uncle and aunt who emigrated in September 1905. At first they lived in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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 California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, a Swedish immigrant farming colony outside Turlock, California. He graduated from the

Hilmar High School Hilmar High School serves students from the rural community of Hilmar and Stevinson, California, United States. History Hilmar High School was founded in 1911, and was originally known as Hilmar Colony Union High School. There were 26 students ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, (B.S. 1925).

Career

During his career, he worked at Commercial Credit Corporation, the Transamerica Corporation and the

Bank of Hawaii The Bank of Hawaii Corporation ( haw, Panakō o Hawaii; abbreviated BOH) is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that the majority of the voting sto ...

. He joined Bank of America in 1936 and spent two decades in California before leaving for six years with the Bank of Hawaii. He was president of the Bank of Hawaii 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 and was succeeded by

Alden W. Clausen Alden Winship "Tom" Clausen
...

. In 1972, Peterson became the second Administrator of the

, managing that body's economic assistance activities throughout the world. Rudolph A. Peterson was the University of California, Berkeley 1967 Alumnus of the Year and received the Chancellor's Award in 1991. In 1965, Peterson was selected to be Swedish-American of the Year by the Swedish Council of America. He later served as chairman of Board of Directors of the council from 1989 to 1991.

References

External links

Peterson Museum - Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Rudolph A Administrators of the United Nations Development Programme 1904 births 2003 deaths People from Svenljunga Municipality Swedish emigrants to the United States University of California, Berkeley alumni American bankers American chief executives of financial services companies American officials of the United Nations