He represented his country at the 1966 and 1970 British Commonwealth Games, and won 12 New Zealand national fencing titles across three disciplines.
A commercial lawyer in Wellington, Peterson and his wife Hilary established clubs to support sufferers of dementia.
The first was in 1965, when he won the men's épée title, the only time he would win the national championship in that discipline.
[6] At the 1966 games, he won two of his six contests in the elimination pool of the men's individual épée, and did not progress.
In the men's team épée, he competed for New Zealand alongside Bob Binning and Keith Mann, losing against Scotland and England and not advancing beyond the elimination pool.
At the time of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, Peterson represented the sports of fencing and modern pentathlon on the NZOCGA, and the latter sport was one of only two that sent New Zealand athletes to the games, competing under the flag of the national Olympic committee.
In 2014, that firm merged with Morrison Kent, and Peterson retired from legal practice the following year.