Peter Westbrook

Peter Westbrook is the son of Ulysses Westbrook, an African-American, and Japanese-born Mariko Westbrook, who divorced after moving to Newark, New Jersey, where he grew up. He was often taunted by neighborhood children about his multiracial background, and to keep him out of street fights, Mariko gave him a $5 bribe to attend a fencing class at Essex Catholic High School. Peter was hooked at once. In 1970, he won a full scholarship to New York University, and in 1974 won his first national saber fencing championship. Westbrook went on to earn 12 more national championships, three gold medals at the Pan American Games, and a bronze medal in the 1984 Olympics. In 1991, he founded the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which provides over 1,000 disadvantaged children between the ages of 10 and 18 the opportunity to learn fencing. His autobiography, 'Harnessing Anger: The Way of an American Fencer' (1997), was nominated by the American Library Association for the Book of the Year Award.