Kate Peterson has been described by friends as a force of nature, an oracle, an inspiration and a genius, who delighted in not only her work, but in her sons, in travel, in her dogs, and in the little things she noticed in the course of the day, like a hummingbird nest in a friend’s yard or a sunset or the nuances of a fine wine.
Kate Peterson, 1959-2023.
As CEO of her business, Performance Concepts, Peterson worked as a business consultant, trainer, confidant and partner to myriad businesses, organizations and individuals in the jewelry industry. Peterson died on Tuesday after being injured in a house fire early Easter Sunday morning in her home of Montgomery Village, MD.
“This is a tragic, tragic loss to her family, first and foremost, and to the industry writ large,” says David Turgeon, senior consultant for Peterson’s company, Performance Concepts. “Her energy and her kindness will be just so terribly missed.”
Born Jan. 26, 1959, Peterson is survived by her two sons, Nicholas Peterson and Kevin Peterson; her parents, Paul and Connie Bykowski, one sister Beth (and Adam) Henning; two brothers, Tom (and Lisa) Bykowski and Jim (and Annette) Bykowski; nine nieces and nephews, including Marylee, Melany, Morgan, Miya, Dylan, Steven, Robin, Seth and Keith, and many cousins.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology/chemistry from Thomas More University, as well as advanced degrees in management and organizational behavior from Georgetown University and industrial psychology and organizational design from Rutgers University. She began her jewelry career as a manager for JB Robinson Jewelers in 1976 and held positions as vice-president of training for Kay Jewelers and then Littman Jewelers before launching Performance Concepts in 1997.
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Her reach in the jewelry world is hard to define, because to those who knew her, it seemed to have no limits.
“Apart from the horrific tragedy of this all, everybody is dealing with, ‘Who am I going to call now when I have questions about — you fill in the blanks,’” Turgeon says.
She touched every aspect of the jewelry world. “I don’t know an organization, event, venue, that didn’t work with Kate,” says her friend and colleague Ellen Fruchtman of Fruchtman Marketing. “I would be hard-pressed to come up with that.”
Henning, Peterson’s sister, says she spoke at just about every show. “All the letters: IJO, RJO, CBG, AGS, JCK, DCA, all the jewelry associations.”
David Baker knew Peterson for decades and worked with her very closely for eight years, developing two seminars each year for the AGTA Seminar series, which she delivered at AGTA GemFair Tucson. “What a joy to work with, and a wonderful friendship developed,” Baker says in a Facebook post. “I wonder if the industry as a whole will realize what a serious loss to the trade this is.”
She was also intimately connected to the INSTORE family from its beginnings.
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“Kate has touched our lives deeply,” says Matthijs Braakman, publisher of INSTORE Magazine. “She was a key pillar of INSTORE’s editorial mission and an indispensable member of our team for over two decades. Without fail, she was always at the ready, tirelessly supporting our ideas and collaborating on new initiatives to help independent jewelers thrive. We have all just abruptly lost a dear friend. We’re in shock. We wish Kate’s family the utmost love and strength to help them through this difficult time.”
Trace Shelton, editor in chief of INSTORE, says Kate developed the concept for INSTORE’s popular “Real Deal” feature, in which she has written each month about a fictionalized account of a problem scenario that takes place in a retail jewelry store and asks INSTORE’s readers to send in their solutions. “Every time I would see Kate, she would tell me, ‘I always think I’m going to run out of these crazy stories, but I hear even crazier ones from my clients all the time!’ That said, her favorite installment each year was the December edition, in which Kate would write about a real-life jeweler doing good in their local community.”
Shelton adds that Peterson was always INSTORE’s most dependable ally. “When we launched the SMART Jewelry Show in Chicago, Kate made herself available to speak or moderate educational sessions every day. Whenever we asked if she could do something, she just said, ‘Whatever you need.’ She was excited to lead our team of presenters for the upcoming Brain Trust Workshop at the new INSTORE Show this August.
“We’ll absolutely miss her unmatched experience and expertise as well as her steadying presence. But even more so, we’ll miss her unfailing sense of humor, her lighthearted approach to life and business, and her personal friendship and support.”
Friend and colleague Andrea Hill, a fellow jewelry business consultant, says Peterson’s very presence made her seem taller.
“I remember one night early in our friendship, as we hugged goodbye after dinner, I suddenly stepped back and said, ‘Wait! How tall are you?’ And she started laughing and said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because I could have sworn you were 5’8″ or 5’9″, but I think we’re the same height!’
Kate was such a force that she seemed 6 inches taller than she actually was.
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“As an industry, we will feel the loss of Kate Peterson for years to come,” Hill says. “We’ll encounter a business issue or retail scenario and think, ‘I wonder what Kate would have to say about this?’ and feel the loss all over again. Kate leaves the jewelry industry with a legacy of practice and wisdom. On a personal level, I will miss her fierce intellect, her constant curiosity, her passion. I will miss going so deep into conversation that we only surfaced to realize the entire restaurant staff was sitting in the back waiting for us to finish. I will miss her authenticity. I will miss my friend.”
Adam Graham, director of sales at Joshua J Fine Jewelry and former marketing manager for AGTA, said in a Facebook post that he admired her confidence in her message to the people who sat in her classrooms. “That’s something I try to emulate,” he said.
Turgeon says the remarkable thing about Kate is that even though she was involved with everything, she was always available to take phone calls. “Everyone always thought they had her complete attention and complete focus,” he says. “It speaks to her generosity of spirit and heart. People she worked with were incredibly important to her.”
In a Facebook post, Mark Watson of Watson & Son estate and antique jeweler in San Francisco, says Kate changed his life. “Yes, she was my business therapist, but someone who was always there on every level when I called or texted,” he wrote. “She was an oracle. And a great person to spend quality time with. I am honored to call her a friend. My new eternal phrase is ‘What would Kate do?’ There is a chasm in my heart.”
Turgeon says Peterson’s energy seemed to have no bounds. “I would get calls from her at 10 at night on the West Coast. There was always such an excitement about what she was doing, and what I learned many years ago was that time zones didn’t exist for her. If she was involved in a project and she would bring you in on it, it was always about how well we were able to deliver on what the clients were expecting. You just sort of learned that that was Kate.”
Says Fruchtman, “If Kate called us, we knew it was important. I would literally drop almost everything to help her or do what she needed because I knew how important the clients were to her. We did it out of love for her.”
Fruchtman says countless businesses in the jewelry industry wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Peterson. And her own would have gone in a different direction. “Our business would not have been involved in the jewelry business if it were not for Kate,” she says. “She took me under her wing and started me off in this industry. She was a mentor to me.”
It was always clear that her sons came first.
“We always knew that Kevin and Nick were the apples of her eyes,” Turgeon says. “Kevin and Nick were why she did what she did. How she cared for them and her relationship with them was extraordinary. The first time I saw Nicholas, he was a baby, we were in Florida at a conference. Kate would be on the phone, holding Nick, sitting on the edge of the bathtub while the water was running because that was the only thing that would soothe him.”
One of her sons, Nick Peterson, also weighed in on Facebook.
“She was the smartest person I’ve ever known (trying to find her IQ test to prove it!!), and anyone who knew her knows she was not afraid to show it. She lived her life on her terms and wouldn’t let anyone tell her otherwise. In the face of adversity, she built herself into a globally known professional in her industry. Always stopping to see, and appreciate, the world on her travels. She loved her friends, her family, and her dogs fiercely, and she will be missed.”
As busy as she was, Kate was able to do what she needed to do to recharge.
Her friends say she was always up for an adventure when her business took her all over the world, always plotting her next side trip, and always noticing the beauty in the little things around her.
Fruchtman says while Kate was visiting her, she discovered a hummingbird nest in her front yard seemingly hidden within a tree. Fascinated, Kate asked her friend to send her pictures of the birds as they developed. Fruchtman said she hadn’t even noticed the nest, but she sent those pictures of the baby hummingbirds.
Turgeon says that when he lived in Napa, Kate would love to find an excuse to visit because she appreciated wine as well as sightseeing.
“Just watching her when we would be doing tastings, just watching her enjoy something was so incredible,” Turgeon says. “So many people who are as busy as she was would just sort of gloss over things, but she was able to be so specific in her enjoyment of things.
“Her quality as a human being, as a friend, was what made her so prominent in our industry because everything that she did was authentic. If she wanted to do something for you, by God stand back, it was going to be done. There aren’t that many people like that in the world.”
“A bright light has gone from the industry and not just a light, but someone who brought us together. Her booth at JCK was always busy because people wanted to see Kate, talk to her and get advice. It was extraordinary.”
