Phillip Christian Peters

Highlights

Winter Garden

Winter Garden Citrus Growers Association

Winter Garden Citrus Products

Florida Citrus Commission

Florida Citrus Exchange

Florida Citrus Mutual

Bio

Phil C. Peters was born in 1886. As a child, he helped his father plant and cultivate the family groves near Winter Garden, Florida. He worked with these groves for the next 76 years.

Peters’s prominent role in the Florida citrus industry began in 1930s. becoming manager of the Winter Garden Citrus Growers Association in 1931. He continued to guide the organization for the next 32 years. Well-known as a champion of high quality standards for fresh fruit products, he helped to found Winter Garden Citrus Products in 1943 and ended up serving as the organization’s first Vice President. When concentrate was introduced to Florida in the late 1940s, Peters helped to make the organization one of Florida’s largest processors of frozen citrus concentrate.

Peters served with the Florida Citrus Commission from 1938-1939. He was also affiliated with the Florida Citrus Exchange, becoming the organization’s first Vice President and President (1955-1962). Peters was one of the leaders in the organization of the super-cooperative Florida Citrus Mutual, and he served as chairman of its advisory committee until he retired in 1962.

Phil C. Peters passed away in 1968. He was inducted into the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame five years later, in 1973.