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John Peterman

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (circa 1942- )
    Born in Lexington, Kentucky
    Founded the J. Peterman Company (1987)
    Inspired the character Jacopo Peterman in Seinfeld
    Father-in-law of actor Steve Zahn

Why he might be annoying:

    An interviewer wrote, 'The first thing that strikes you about John Peterman in the flesh is that he really talks like that. Like the writer of the [catalogue]. Like the character on 'Seinfeld.''
    His company stole its travel/safari theme from Banana Republic.
    Due to overly aggressive expansion, his company went bankrupt (1999) and he lost rights to the J. Peterman name. ('The rapidity of the crash was amazing. But we did a lot of things we shouldn't have done.')
    A lot of 'Seinfeld' fans probably never realized a real J. Peterman was out there.

Why he might not be annoying:

    While at Holy Cross, he played third base for two baseball teams that went to the College World Series (1962-63).
    He said he did not mind being portrayed as 'a buffoon and a bore' on 'Seinfeld' because 'For the long term, this was good for the brand name and the company.'
    He was able to repurchase the J. Peterman name and restart the company (2001).
    John O'Hurley, who played J. Peterman on 'Seinfeld,' was one of the investors in the relaunched J. Peterman Company.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 17 Votes: 47.06% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 94 Votes: 51.06% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying