Top Financier Pete Peterson Has Always Banked On Tea!

Thanks to nymag.com for the image

Peter George Peterson has accomplished a great many things in his life. As the former chairman of Lehman Brothers and The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr. Peterson has also held several key government positions, like U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the chairmanship of the Council Of Foreign Relations. He is certainly no stranger to hard work and its benefits.

Coming from Greek parents, tea was a major part of his childhood, which held true into his adult life.  In his book The Education of an American Dreamer: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Wall Street, and Beyond Peterson gives anecdotal references of the role tea played in his life:

“One day in school our teacher asked what we drank with breakfast. Most of my classmates said they had milk or Ovaltine…but when my turn came I answered [tea]. ‘It’s good and it’s sweet and it makes me smart. I drink it every morning so I can be smart all day.”

While we can’t vouch for tea making you smarter, but it sure seems to work for Mr. Peterson!  His mother, who drank chamomile tea to help her sleep, had Peterson drinking herbal teas at an early age.

Now in his 80’s, tea is still his drink of choice and he still active and well-respected in the world of business and politics. Over a decaffeinated iced tea, Peterson explains recent views topics in a recent interview with New York Magazine. See what he has to say here.