Peder Sather

In the 21st episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Peder Sather, a Norwegian immigrant whose name today is written into the landscape of the University of California, Berkeley. Sather was born on a small farm in Odalen, Norway, in 1810. Orphaned young and without the prospect of inheriting the farm, he left for America in 1832—long before mass Norwegian emigration had begun. Starting with modest work in New York, he eventually built a career in finance and later moved west during the California Gold Rush, where he helped establish a banking house in San Francisco. This episode follows Sather’s journey from rural Norway to Gold Rush–era California—and how a man who never received a proper education ended up helping build one of the world’s great universities.