Charles (Chuck) Petersen was born in Tottenville, Staten Island, in 1940. He grew up living in the Biddle House, now a New York City landmark maintained by the Tottenville Historical Society. The experience of living in an historic home gave Chuck an appreciation of history, old homesteads, and those who lived in them.
After high school, he joined the Navy under a program that released him the day before he became 21. Two days after completing his military service, he was enrolled at Wagner College on Staten Island. It was there he met his wife, Carole. They’ve been married over 61 years.
Chuck attended college for many years, first full time, then in the evenings. Eventually, he earned an MBA in Business Management. While attending college, he worked as a machinist, the trade of both his father and brother. After completing his MBA program, he began a career in various manufacturing management positions.
Eventually, his responsibilities included long range strategic and financial planning, capital investment, acquisitions and divestitures, and plant relocations. He retired in 1998.
Both Chuck and Carole remain active. Chuck began running in the late 1970s and has since logged in over 100,000 miles on the roads and trails and has completed fifty-seven marathons, twelve 100-mile trail races, and over 100 races of marathon distance or longer to date.
He also bikes daily and enjoys doing volunteer trail maintenance at the local state parks as well as completing a round or two of golf each week.
