Pehr August "P.A." Peterson was a Swedish-born business executive, civic leader, and philanthropist in Rockford, Illinois, United States. Peterson was founder and president of numerous furniture and machine tool manufacturing companies and one of the founders of Swedish American Hospital.

SwedishAmerican Hospital is a 357-bed non profit, teaching hospital located in Rockford, Illinois. The hospital is a division of UW Health. The hospital was founded in 1911, opening its doors in 1918 following a period of fund raising. In the mid-1990s the hospital proposed a major campus overhaul that was eventually approved by the city of Rockford, providing SwedishAmerican assistance in recovering a blighted neighborhood nearby. The hospital employees more than 350 physicians and includes an emergency department that is a level II trauma center.