A native of South Portland, Maine, Peter Buck (1930—2021) was the first member of his family to go to college. He excelled in the sciences at Bowdoin College — Class of 1952 — and earned advanced degrees in physics at Columbia University, where he studied under Charles Townes, inventor of the laser, and completed his doctoral dissertation under Nobel Prize winner Isidor Isaac Rabi.

Buck worked at GE’s Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and subsequently was involved in the development of atomic power plants about US Navy ships and submarines. This brilliant scientist also developed the ultimate side hustle: He staked Fred DeLuca, the son of a family friend, $1,000 to launch Pete’s Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Buck convinced his partner to do a deep dive on Amato’s, a popular Italian sandwich shop at the corner of India and Newbury Streets near where Buck grew up. Buck’s investment and his counsel proved critical to the success of SUBWAY.

Decades later, when the sandwich shop became a global powerhouse, Buck returned to his roots and invested a portion of his profits in Maine timberland, which now belongs to his heirs.