Peter Edward Schechtel

PETER EDWARD SCHECHTEL was born in Portland, Oregon, on August 25, 1960. He was the son of Edward Schechtel and Dawn Allphin Peter, who is mostly known as Pete by family and friends, was number six in a family of eight children.

In 1979, Pete started a professional career as a part-time property investor for nearly 40 years. He was a buyer and seller of real estate properties across five states including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Oregon. Pete simultaneously broke into commercials where he was mostly known for a Toyota commercial, where he drove their sedan smiling down a highway at the seaside, and he did a Speedo Ad in Life Magazine as he swam in a pool wearing a pair of their goggles.

Pete was also a graduate of John Robert Powers School of Modeling, and he snagged a job as the Nike clothing model for tennis champ John McEnroe.

Pete moved to LA in 1987 to launch his Hollywood career. He landed a number of extra parts in front of the camera for a couple of years. But his main Hollywood role was as an assistant chef with Hollywood Catering, where by 1995 he prepared and served food for sitcoms, commercials, and movies of the week. Between 1995 & 2007, Pete prepared and served food for the crew and actors in feature films and television throughout the U.S. and overseas. Pete recalled the nicest celebrities he worked with were Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Harmon, and Morgan Freeman. He especially enjoyed living in the Bahamas for four months during the filming of the movie Flipper.

During a long hiatus, Pete went to work with his friend Leslie Frankel, who owned a couple of UPS Stores and did some clerking to help her out from 2007-2017. He returned to Hollywood Catering for a brief stint until he retired in 2018.

More recently, Pete decided he wanted to become a parent to a four-legged son, named Pierre, and they became inseparable and hung out daily as each other’s best friends.

Pete is survived by his wife, Paulette Theresa-Schechtel. He is survived by seven siblings – Timothy Schechtel, Martha Schechtel, Gregory Schechtel, Paula Sansum, Theresa Schechtel, Karen Wirtz and Mary Watson. He is survived by his nephews, Alex Camarillo and Josiah Watson; and his nieces, Amanda Camarillo, Johey Busekrus, Leah Rivendell, Dylan Schechtel, Hannah Gutierrez, Natalie Schechtel, Terra Schechtel, and Hannah Fair. He is survived by his grand-nephews, Jorge and Mateo Gutierrez and his grand-niece, Addison Mae Camarillo.

Pete leaves a legacy of love and respect with family, friends, and all who knew him for his good sense of humor, kindness and sweet spirit and who was affectionately called “SweetPea” by Paulette.