Peter Westbrook is a legendary U.S. Sabre Champion, a visionary leader, inspirational mentor, and founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF). The Guinness Book of World Records lists Peter Westbrook as the all-time winning American record holder for thirteen U.S. National Sabre championships.  Peter is a six-time

Olympian—competing in his first Olympics in 1976 and the first African-Asian American Olympic Sabre-Fencing Champion, capturing a bronze medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.  In addition to holding three gold medals from the Pan-American games where he competed on six-teams, Peter was honored by his fellow Olympians, as the flag bearer for the United States during the closing ceremonies of the 1992 Olympic Games.

 Peter Westbrook, a cancer survivor, is no stranger to struggle. Peter was born in Kansas City, Missouri to a Japanese mother and an African American father. A child of the 1950’s, Peter was raised lacking in economic means by his mother and as a teen he faced the tumultuous civil rights riots of the 1960’s in Newark, New Jersey.

Peter’s mother, Mariko Wada-Westbrook’s, (an emigrant of Japan), sustaining faith convinced Peter to try fencing.

As a descendant of Samurai and Noh performers, she believed fencing’s similarity to Kendo, a Japanese martial art that required discipline, speed and mental agility would give Peter the skills needed to navigate life’s challenges.

Peter excelled in fencing at Essex Catholic High School in Newark and earned a full fencing scholarship to New York University, where he received world-class coaching and earned a B.S. degree in Marketing. Peter was a marketing executive with IBM, North American Van Lines and the New York Times while competing internationally representing the United States.

In 1991, Peter founded the Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF), which uses the sport of fencing to assist young people to achieve their personal best emotionally, intellectually, and physically. As President and CEO, Peter employs his visionary and strategic leadership to grow a program that provides academic preparation and world-class coaching to youth from diverse backgrounds in the New York metropolitan area.

Peter Westbrook and the PWF have nurtured two generations of scholar-athletes. Since 2000, at least one PWF fencer has qualified to compete in the Olympic Games. A total of 12 PWF athletes have earned 17 individual and team berths across the seven Olympic Games between 2000-2024, with four athletes bringing medals back to the USA. PWF fencers won two silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and now a gold and silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Peter Westbrook has also been a role model for hundreds of young fencers preparing them for international competition at the junior and senior level and academic success. His personal involvement supporting aspiring fencers has resulted in thirteen (13) medalists at the Senior World Championships, winning three (3) gold, three (3) silver and seven (7) bronze medals. PWF athletes competed in the Junior and Cadet World Championships winning thirty-five individual and team national titles. Peter’s firsthand training and inspiration have catalyzed PWF athletes to reach higher and aspire for academic success. PWF athletes have been awarded scholarships and graduated from top colleges and universities while winning numerous NCAA championships throughout the United States. In addition, the PWF has assisted its coaches to secure prominent fencing positions across the country including NYU and Columbia University.

Peter’s dedicated service goes beyond the fencing strip. He has served multi-year terms on the Board of Directors of the United States Olympic Committee and testified before the United States Senate and the House of

Representatives on the value of sports in providing opportunities for personal growth, self-discipline, and accomplishments. He is an engaged civic leader who shares his vision and inspires audiences across the United States to South Africa. He is a man of great faith. Peter has been an ordained Deacon at The Abyssinian Baptist Church for more than twenty years. He is known as a prayer warrior and is passionate about serving. In 2010, Deacon Westbrook was conferred with the ‘Honorary Doctorate of Victorious Living’ degree from Reverend, Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, at The Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Peter Westbrook is the author of his memoir, Harnessing Anger: The Inner Discipline of Athletic Excellence. His life story and the accomplishments of the Peter Westbrook Foundation are documented in several film productions, one by CNN at the Atlanta Games in 1996, “A Path to Excellence” by Carl Borack, “The Religion of Sport”, by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra. In addition, Peter has been recognized for his outstanding achievements in numerous ways.  In 2023, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation acknowledged Peter’s unwavering commitment to community service by selecting him as one of its Team USA Community Champions. In 2004, he was listed among the ‘100 Most Influential Minorities in Sports’. In 1996, he was given the F. Don Miller Award by the United States Olympic Committee for his overall contribution to sports in America.

He is also the recipient of the UNESCO Fair Play Award for his personal accomplishments and the Peter Westbrook Foundation’s outstanding international accomplishments. Peter was recognized by the USOC as a Team USA Community Champion. Named in recognition of Peter Westbrook and his dedication to creating access for youth from underserved communities into the sport of fencing, “The Peter Westbrook Trailblazer Award” was created by the USFA to inspire fencing clubs to be trailblazers in the advancement and growth of the sport and recognize fencing organizations striving to make a difference in their community.

Peter has also won the prestigious, ‘Japanese American of the Biennium’ award. Additionally, Peter Westbrook is the recipient of the Oprah Winfrey Use Your Life Angel Award because of his dedication to helping under-served youth.  Peter also received awards from the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation and the Issac Murphy Derby (Kentucky Derby) Experience Image award, from BMW/Uptown: as well as other countless proclamations and recognitions. He has been featured on 60 Minutes II, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel as well as on the cover of Newsweek Magazine and countless other print and electronic media.

Peter Westbrook is a visionary. Through a lifetime of extraordinary leadership, Peter’s unwavering commitment to mentorship and personal development, he has cultivated a new generation of outstanding and influential leaders across sports, business, education, public service, and other fields, while also inspiring them to become compassionate and responsible members of their communities. Peter Westbrook resides in New York City with his wife Susann and family.