Peter received his BA degree in Chemistry from Harvard College and his MBA in Research and Development Management from the University of Chicago. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 to 1968 with assignments with the Air Force Systems Command, 5th Force Reconnaissance Company (USMC), HQ 19th Air Force and as a Program Manager in the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). From 1968 until 1971 Peter was the Assistant Director of the Center for Materials Research at Stanford University and a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He subsequently served in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and as the Deputy Executive Director of the U.S. Price Commission.

He served as the Assistant Vice President for Medical Affairs and then Executive Director of the Stanford University Medical Center from 1973 to 1976.Peter was a Planning Commissioner in Palo Alto from 1974-78. He joined the ALZA Corporation in 1976 and retired as Executive Vice President in 1990.

From 1991 to 1994 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University. Peter  founded the Mission and Values Institute in 1991 and currently serves on the  boards of a number of non-profit organizations including Annual Reviews, the  Village Enterprise Fund, and the United States International University (US and Kenya Boards). He is Chairman of the Joint Community Relations Committee for  the Palo Alto Airport. He was a Smokejumper with the U.S. Forest Service and holds US Air Force and US Marine Corps Master Parachutists ratings and private pilot single engine, instrument and glider ratings.