Alfredo Petrov: One of a Kind

When asked where he lives, Alfredo Petrov answers “kind of out of my suitcase,” and likes to joke that he personally has kept American Airlines out of bankruptcy. ” He adds: “I have my rocks, my microscopes, and my clothes scattered about homes on four continents.” This makes sense for someone who deals minerals at 16 shows every year (three in Japan, two in Europe, and eleven in the United States). In addition to these shows, Alfredo and partner Frank deWit operate a mineral travel business that escorts collectors on trips to such destinations as Bolivia, Greenland, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Japan. Alfredo was born in Great Britain of a Russian father and German mother. He attended high school in Ethiopia where, as the only white student among 800 who were black, remembers himself as having been “kind of like the school pet.” He began college in Beirut, Lebanon, because of its proximity to Ethiopia and ended up in the U.S., graduating with a degree in geology from San Diego State.