Born and raised on the family farm in Fowler, the son of immigrants from Bitlis, he became a salesman and eventual owner of Fresno’s Valley Foundry and Machine Works. Under his leadership it would become a world-recognized supplier of agricultural equipment. In his later years, he and his wife Alice, along with his brother Pete, would become among Fresno’s most recognized philanthropists, contributing generously to Fresno Community Hospital as well as to Fresno State, which paid tribute to him by naming the Peters Business Building on campus in his honor.