Howard W. Peterson Sr., Started Oil Delivery Company, 82
DGH
Howard W. Peterson Sr. of Shrewsbury, founder of Peterson Oil Co. in
Worcester, Massachusetts, died Thursday, December 19, 2002, in UMass
Memorial Medical Center, at the Memorial Campus in Worcester, at the
age of 82.
Mr. Peterson was born in Worcester and graduated from the former High
School of Commerce in 1938. He served in the US Army's Fourth Armored
Division in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
A self-made business man, Mr. Peterson began his company in his home
in Worcester in 1949, holding its first board meeting in his kitchen,
and setting up his office in the basement. He began by selling
kerosene in 5-gallon containers for heating and cooking, according to
the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
"He was first and foremost a hard worker," his son, Howard Peterson
Jr., told the Gazette. "He was one of those classic entrepreneurs
who's been doing stuff since his teens. He recycled wax paper in the
Depression."
Mr. Peterson was able to expand his company during the 1950s because
of the decade's oil boom and his purchase of smaller companies on Cape
Cod and Webster. The firm eventually employed more than 100 people. He
retired in 2000.
Mr. Peterson donated $10,000 to the city of Worcester to open the
pools at Cropton Park in May 1992, after budget cuts forced them to
close the previous year, the Telegram & Gazette reported.
He was a member of Emanuel Lutheran Church and served on the church
council for many years. He also held memberships at the South
Worcester Kiwanis Club, the Vernon Hill Post of the American Legion,
and the South Works Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, among
others.
Mr. Peterson was a past director of the New England Fuel Institute,
vice chairman of the Better Home Heating Council, and a member of
Emanuel Lutheran Church's committee for the Boy Scouts, Troop 63.
"He was just a very good guy with good values," former congressman
Joseph D. Early Sr., a longtime friend, told the Telegram & Gazette.
Boston Globe
.