Ralph Frederick Peo (May 3, 1897 – November 29, 1966) was an American inventor, engineer, business executive in the automobile industry, and the holder of 150 patents.

He became acquainted with Charles F. Kettering of General Motors, who he regarded as the greatest American inventor in the automotive field.

[1] He worked in the Detroit auto industry for nine years until 1924 when he relocated to Buffalo, New York to become the assistant chief engineer at the American Radiator Company.

Schultz, president of the Houde Engineering Corporation of Buffalo, manufactures of Houdaille shock absorbers.

[5] After WWII, he resigned from Houdaille and formed Frontier Industries[6][3] by putting together a group of four diversified manufacturing companies, Buffalo Arms, Buffalo Crushed Stone, Fairmount Tool and Forging Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and Manzel Brothers, manufactures of lubricating machines.

In his youth he would paddle a small boat along the shores of Lake Ontario, near Rochester, and sing to onlookers to earn spending money.

As an adult, he purchased larger watercraft, the largest, a 60 foot yacht named HI Lady (for Houdaille Industries).