Robert L. Peters

Robert L. Peters, FGDC was born on May 26, 1954 (in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada) to devout Mennonite missionary parents, the middle of three sons to survive infancy. His pacifist father (John Jacob Peters) was born in post-revolutionary Russia in 1920 (during the Russian Civil War amongst the White Army, Bolsheviks, and Makhnovist anarchists), narrowly escaping as a refugee émigré along with his nuclear family in 1926. (During the Second World War, John served Canada as a voluntary conscientious objector). Robert’s mother (Amanda Marie Peters ) was born in Manitoba in 1926 by dint of an earlier Russian Mennonite immigration to the Canadian prairies in 1874.

Robert’s family moved to Europe in 1957, where he grew up as a third culture kid, schooled bilingually in Frankfurt, Germany and Basel, Switzerland. Following a one-year foundation program in art (Basel), he graduated from Black Forest Academy (Lörrach), and then attended a year of religious studies at Capernwray Hall (Carnforth, Lancashire) in the United Kingdom. He subsequently volunteered with Operation Palmbranch, an African relief mission based in Bavaria, Germany.

Peters immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada in 1974, where he worked as an artist and freelance illustrator, married Beverly Guay Pauls (a Canadian he had met while studying in England), and studied design (a two-year Graphic Design diploma from Red River College, and a certificate in Design Management from the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Administrative Studies). In 1976 (while still in school) he co-founded the design studio Circle Graphics (now Circle Design Incorporated).

Under Peters’ direction (he remains active as the firm’s principal), Winnipeg-based Circle Design Incorporated (Circle) has helped hundreds of clients worldwide conceive effective strategies, implement distinctive corporate identities and brands, and deploy targeted information and communication tools. This work has been widely recognized and cited, has received more than 60 awards for design excellence, and may be found in numerous permanent collections. Of particular note are the dozens of Canadian postage stamps, first day of issue covers, and philatelic collectables that Circle has designed since 1998.

Since 1982 Peters has lived in an ultra-low-energy, passive solar house that he designed and built on a wooded acreage in Eastern Manitoba A lifelong conservationist and nature lover, Peters is also an avid rock climber and mountaineer (a certified Climbing Instructor with the Alpine Club of Canada), marathoner, canoeist, and outdoorsman.

Peters separated in 1999 (after a 25-year marriage) and divorced in 2001. More biographical information about Robert L. Peters can be found at www.robertlpeters.com.