Danbury’s Peter Buck, billionaire co-founder of Subway, dies at 90

Peter Buck, a Danbury resident who turned a $1,000 investment in a startup sandwich shop into a billion-dollar fortune as the co-founder of the Subway restaurant chain, died on Nov. 18 at the age of 90.

Buck was on Dec. 19, 1930, in South Portland, Maine, where his parents owned a farm. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from Columbia University and focused on a career in nuclear engineering, taking positions at United Nuclear in White Plains and Nuclear Energy Services in Danbury.

In 1965, Buck loaned 17-year-old Fred DeLuca $1,000 for the opening of a sandwich shop that would provide the younger man with a cashflow to finance his education at the University of Bridgeport. Originally called “Pete’s Super Submarines,” the concept evolved over time, with Buck and DeLuca partnering in the business.

The chain became known as Subway in 1974 and was headquartered in Milford. While Buck would later admit he didn”™t see a profit in his first 15 years in the restaurant business, the success of the chain ultimately enriched him; in April, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.7 billion.

Buck devoted much of his fortune to philanthropic allocations through a private family foundation, with recipients including Danbury Hospital and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2020, LandReport.com identified Buck as the nation”™s seventh-largest landowner by acreage, and his acquisitions were made for maintaining open space conservation.

DeLuca died in 2015. Today, the privately-owned Subway operates more than 40,000 locations around the world.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of one of Subway’s founders, Dr. Peter Buck,” said John Chidsey, CEO of Subway, in a statement. “He was a shining example of a dedicated, hands-on leader, and an integral member of the Subway family.”