Peter Westbrook

Peter Westbrook (born April 16, 1952) is a former American sabre fencing champion, active businessman and founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation.

As a former U.S. champion and Olympic medalist, Peter Westbrook came to fencing from an unlikely direction, the inner city. Westbrook's remarkable life began with his Japanese mother, who convinced him to try fencing. As a Newark teenager in the 1960s, Westbrook brought unseen intensity to the sport; anger over his absentee father, poverty, and status as a biracial man in a racist society helped to fuel Westbrook to remarkable heights within the sport. Through discipline and hard work, he channeled his anger into the competitive edged needed to become an internationally ranked competitor.

While nearing retirement, Westbrook founded the Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit that uses the sport of fencing as a vehicle in developing life and academic skills for young people from underserved communities of New York City. Thousands of young athletes have affirmed the benefits of Peter's message and gone on to achieve similar success in and out of the sport. His humility, natural talent for leadership and desire to give back, provide the Foundation’s heart as it enters its 20th year of existence. His life story (captured in the 1997 book, Harnessing Anger), has inspired many to always seek excellence in every endeavor.