Peter L. Buck

Peter Buck was an American physicist, restaurateur, and philanthropist. He co-founded the Subway fast food restaurant chain.

Early life and education

Buck was born in South Portland, Maine, in 1930 He was graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1952. He then earned master’s and doctoral degrees in physics at Columbia University.

Career

Subway

While working as a nuclear physicist for several companies from 1957 to 1978, Buck loaned partner and family friend Fred De Luca $1,000 in 1965 and advised him to open a sandwich shop to help him pay for college at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They named the restaurant after Buck, calling it "Pete's Super Submarines". Together Buck and De Luca formed Doctor's Associates to oversee operations of the restaurants as the franchise expanded. Though neither the first nor the second restaurants were financial successes, they continued to expand their operations. By 1973, they had 16 locations throughout Connecticut and, in 1974, they began franchising out the restaurants. They also introduced Subway's current logo and changed the name of their operation from what was then "Pete's Subway" to "Subway Sandwiches".

Philanthropy, honors and awards

Among Buck's philanthropic works, he donated the Carmen Lúcia Ruby to the gem collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and gave a grant to Bowdoin College in 2009 that completed its capital campaign. Consequently, the college's new fitness center bears his name. In 2008, Bowdoin College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.