Peter Derby graduated from Queen's in 1961 with a 1st Class honours in Mathematics. He joined Scottish Widows in Edinburgh and qualified as an actuary in 1965, becoming only the second known actuary from Northern Ireland. 

He joined the Scottish stockbroking firm, Wood Mackenzie & Co, in 1967, becoming a senior partner in 1970. They opened a London office in 1973 and the firm went on to become one of the leading companies in its field.

After the "big bang", Peter joined Quilter Goodison (now Quilter Cheviot). He became a Freeman of the City of London and a founder member of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries. He was Master in 2001 - 2002.

He recently endowed a prize for actuarial science students at Queen’s and in his will, Peter chose to support the future work of Queen’s through a generous unrestricted legacy gift.