Born on October 6, 1924 to Angelina (Pierni) and Pasquale Saitta, Peter grew up in Boston's old West End on Cotting Street. He retained vivid, happy memories of his formative years in the West End, and frequently treated family members to an animated retelling of stories from those days. Peter's early schooling was at the Mayhew School on Poplar and Chambers Streets. He then attended Boston Latin School for four years, but transferred to Boston English High School when his piano studies became more intense and graduated from there. His lifelong love of the piano began at four years old when his mother signed him up for piano lessons at the Music Settlement House on Allen Street. When his first teacher, Burtram Borison, felt that Peter, then about ten years old, had outgrown the Settlement House, he sent him to audition at the Malkin Conservatory, a former school on Commonwealth Avenue founded by BSO cellist Joseph Malkin. There Peter studied with Leon Tumarkin, who also taught at BU. Peter also briefly studied at Phil Saltman's Studio of Music and would later sometimes play on Saltman's radio show.

In 1943, Peter enlisted in the Army with the idea of going overseas; however, he was sent to Camp Sibert in Alabama where the Army decided to use his musical talents in various military bands. (One of his favorite stories is of leading a marching band with the glockenspiel in a line that was far from straight, much to the chagrin of reviewing officers.) The Army also put him in a dance band, where he met some great musicians and became intrigued by improvisation and jazz. While he was stationed in the South, the Army sent him to Clemson and "Ole Miss" to take classes in mathematics. These studies would have later application when he taught piano at the Schillinger House, now Berklee College of Music, which featured a math-based system of studying and composing music.

Upon returning to Boston after the war, Peter pursued his new-found interest by studying privately with jazz pianist Sam Saxe of the New England Conservatory. Saxe initially told Peter that he had rarely seen classically trained pianists successfully make the transition to jazz because they were too dependent on the notes as written. However, after a short period of study, Saxe conceded that he had been wrong about him.

Peter became a journeyman jazz pianist in Boston's post-war music scene, playing with various groups and combos in nightclubs across the city. He played in a trio at the Eliot Lounge with guitarist Don Alessi and bass player Ross Centamore. At the Darbury Room, he played twin pianos with Mickey Gentile. Playing at Lou Walters' Latin Quarter in the early 1950s was one of his more memorable engagements as he often spoke of the opportunity to meet and accompany name acts like Debbie Reynolds, Sammy Davis Jr., and even comics like Phillis Diller and Professor Irwin Corey. Part of his Latin Quarter contract was to do a half-hour nightly live radio broadcast; he did so for a year, "never repeating a song." At the same time, he was teaching piano at the Schillinger House as well as teaching privately. Many years later, he contacted former student, pianist Bill Green and his orchestra, to provide the music for his daughter's wedding.

A professional opportunity that would forever change Peter's personal life arose when a trumpet player, Felix Catino, heard him playing at Leonardi's Café on Tremont Street. Catino recruited Peter for his dance band at The Lobster Pot in Provincetown. It was in Provincetown that he met his future wife, Angela Saporito, a commercial artist from Brooklyn, New York who was there painting landscapes and portraits. Married in 1948, Peter and Angela would spend summers from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s in Provincetown as The Lobster Pot job led to contracts at other Provincetown night spots, most notably, Phil Bayonne's Weathering Heights.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Peter continued to play as a solo pianist at hotel lounges and restaurants in and around Boston such as the Madison Hotel, the Hotel Lenox, the Iron Horse, and 1280 Beacon Street. One of his longest engagements was at the 57 Restaurant on Stuart Street. His go-to songs were American jazz standards and Broadway show tunes, but he was never stuck in a genre or period. He was forever running to the Boston Music Company for sheet music to make arrangements of new songs from the Beatles to The Fantasticks. A devastating injury to his hand in a 1968 pedestrian car accident prematurely ended Peter's playing career, but he never lost his love for music. He found great pleasure in attending his daughter Debbie's BC Chorale concerts and his son Paul's guitar performances at UMass and BU.

With an insatiable curiosity about a wide range of subjects, Peter was a voracious reader of both fiction and nonfiction, often finishing an entire book in a day Whether reading about sports, history, language, or film, he always wanted to discuss what he had read. A true Bostonian, Peter also enjoyed walking the city, often taking long walks from Brookline to the North End and back. He was an avid fan of all of Boston's sports teams. Having grown up in the shadow of the old Boston Garden, he recalled seeing the championship Bruins teams of the late 30s and early 40s with the help of his uncle, who worked at the Garden. The Brady years almost eclipsed his love of baseball, but he was most passionate about the Red Sox, especially when they "broke the curse," and rarely missed watching a game. Peter enjoyed family celebrations of holidays and special occasions, first at his parents' home and then, his own house; he especially loved the incredible feasts that Angela would prepare. A devoted grandfather, Peter along with Angela never missed one of Christine's recital, birthday, or graduation celebrations, as well as ordinary Sunday dinners, at his daughter's home in Quincy.

From the time Peter married Angela in 1948, he lived on Atherton Road in Brookline where they raised their three children, Debbie, John, and Paul. They were married for 66 years until Angela passed away in 2014. After an extended hospitalization in 2012 left Peter needing more care, he lived in several nursing homes, most recently West Newton Health Care, where he enjoyed dedicated, compassionate care from the staff and constant visits from family. Peter would have turned 100 on October 6th, 2024.

Donations may be made in Peter's memory to The West End Museum,150 Staniford Street, Suite 7, Boston, MA 02114.

Funeral service in the Bell-O'Dea Funeral Home 376 Washington St, Brookline Wednesday September 25, at 9:30, Relatives and friends are kindly invited. Visiting hours in the funeral home Tuesday September 24 from 3-7. Interment Mt. Benedict cemetery.