T.A. Peterman, short for Theodore Alfred "Al" Peterman, was the founder of Peterbilt Motors Company. Born on March 22, 1893, Peterman was in the logging business in the West Coast of the US, where he modified and improved several used trucks for hauling jobs. In 1939, he acquired Fageol Truck and Coach Company of

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, from Sterling Motor Truck Co. The first Peterbilt trucks were nearly identical in appearance to the former Fageol designs. Peterman died of cancer on November 16, 1944, in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, at the age of 51.Peterbilt Motors Co.
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1944 deaths 1893 births American chief executives in the automobile industry American manufacturing businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1890s-stub 20th-century American businesspeople Deaths from cancer in Washington (state)