Robert J.
PetersonAIA
(1930–2022)
Peterson was born in Evanston IL. He studied architecture under Mies Van Der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology, graduating in 1953. After serving in the US Army Corps of Engineers in Korea 1953-1955, he went back to IIT in Business Law for one semester. Peterson worked with Standard Oil as a staff architect for about four years, designing truck stops for tollways in Chicago, then for Bethlehem Steel for five years as a sales engineer, giving lectures in five states on steel and construction.
Because the job involved too much time away from home, he moved to Sturgeon Bay WI in 1970 to open an architecture office specializing in resorts and second homes for wealthy Chicago and Milwaukee clients.
Really cold weather got tiring so his family moved around 1978 to warmer Morganton NC. One of his sons, Matthew, also needed to get to a warmer climate to improve his golf game. Matthew made the PGA Tour in 2001 and is the head pro at the University of Georgia Golf Course. Peterson's design firm closed around 2000. His other son Perry Peterson is a partner in the Winston-Salem firm of Peterson/Gordon Architects. Perry worked with his dad in Morganton from 1980 until 1982.
Sources include: Virginia Faust; Robert J. Peterson; Perry Peterson.
