Man with facial hair and a receding hairline

Peter Pane bio

Peter Austin Pane was born to Richard and Elizabeth Pane on April 17, 1992, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, Richard, worked in construction. His mother, Elizabeth, had been a mathematics prodigy but dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania when she learned she was expecting Peter, a fact which Peter always believed caused his mother to resent him.

Peter's father doted on his every accomplishment during his first two years, but when his sister Wendy was born, Peter had to share his parents' attention with her.

As they grew up, the siblings competed on many levels. Academically, Peter invested a lot of time and energy in his schoolwork, but Wendy still outshined him more often than not, seemingly with little effort. They played many pranks and practical jokes on each other, with the recipient escalating in retaliation every time until a parent finally intervened. In short, they got along as most brothers and sisters do.

However, when their parents' marriage fell apart, the family dynamics shifted drastically. Where Peter once relied on his father as an ally, his absence from the household made Peter feel outnumbered because of the bond between Elizabeth and Wendy.

For Peter, one of the saddest days of his life was when his father moved out. From that time forward, he had little time with Richard, who was bitter and rapidly slipping into alcoholism. He regularly complained to Peter that all his woes were Elizabeth's fault because Elizabeth had broken up their home and denied them their father/son relationship.

Years of listening to his father's grievances drove a wedge between Peter and his mother, and by his eighteenth birthday, he felt alienated and alone. He decided to attend the University of Texas to get away from his mother and sister.

While in college, he dated Julianne Bower. They married in 2014 and moved to Dallas, Texas. From the beginning, the marriage was rocky. Peter, following his father's example, had taken to overindulgence in alcohol. Even after Julianne discovered she was pregnant in early 2018, Peter just couldn't clean up his act. A few months later, Julianne kicked him out, and they were divorced soon after.

Peter's daughter, Jacinta, was born that November. Though Peter has always stayed current with his child support payments, he does not see his daughter very often. She and her mother still reside in Dallas.

On his 27th birthday, less than a year after his divorce, Peter received word that his father had died in Pittsburgh of cirrhosis of the liver. He was devastated by the loss and very upset that his mother and sister did not attend the funeral.

Peter's grief only intensified his problems with alcohol. He began having difficulty at work and was eventually fired. But the loss of his job was a wake-up call for Peter. He went to rehab and got sober. When he was able to get a new job with a top-tier company a few weeks after getting out of rehab, Peter knew his hard work had paid off.

Not long after starting his new job, Peter also started a new relationship with Amanda Hansen, a woman he met in Dallas. In early 2020, he decided to start his own business, and he and Amanda moved to her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

Peter soon found his entrepreneurial feet, connecting software developers with investors. He works from his home office in Memphis and has done well in his business ventures. By 2021, he was debt-free and had bought a home, a new car, and some impressive artwork.

In late 2021, Peter learned his sister had moved to Oxford, Mississippi, when she contacted him at his home in Memphis. They were both surprised and delighted to discover that they could put the past behind them and enjoy an adult relationship.

Wendy could see how much Peter had turned his life around, and she really liked his girlfriend, Amanda Hansen. In fact, Wendy was so impressed, she agreed to allow her brother to handle the negotiations to sell the next software program she developed. They believed it was a new beginning, one they both truly wanted.

Peter was so devastated by his sister's death that he was inconsolable during the funeral preparations and service. The family turned to Wendy's long-time friend, Anil Virani, to deliver the eulogy.