Peter was born in South Portland, Maine on December 19, 1930. Peter Buck graduated from Bowdoin College, and then went on to earn his Masters and his doctorate at Columbia University, where he majored in physics. While working as a nuclear physicist in the late 50s, he loaned a friend $1000 to open a sandwich shop. His friend, Fred deLuca, was struggling to pay for college, and the shop was meant to be a way to earn money for school. Named, “Pete’s Super Submarines”, the shop did moderately well, and the pair opened a second location. Even though the two shops were struggling, they decided to continue expanding. Their gamble paid off, and by the early 70s, they had 16 locations all over Connecticut. They decided to expand further and renamed their shop, simply, “Subway”. Subway eventually grew into the largest sandwich chain in the world, with over 36,000 shops in 99 countries.