 peter david tomarken (december 7, 1942march 13, 2006) was an american television personality primarily known as the host of press your luck. ==early life== born in olean, new york, tomarken was the middle son of barnett and pearl tomarken, who owned deeâs jewelry store in olean. barnett and pearl moved the family to beverly hills, california in the early 1950s, and peter graduated from beverly hills high school in 1960. tomarken graduated from ucla with a bachelor's degree in english and married his high school sweetheart, dana, his first wife who later served on the beverly hills board of education from 1985 to 1993. he and dana had three children: jason, and fraternal twin sisters, alexis and candace. he worked on the magazines women's wear daily and business week in new york city during the late 1960s before moving back to california to work at various advertising agencies. he made an appearance as a reporter in the 1978 film heaven can wait. ==game show career== he later started his own advertising firm, which put him behind and in front of the camera for many commercials in the late 1970s. his agent then suggested that he should try his hand at game show hosting, to which tomarken replied, "why would i want to do that?" his agent said, "because you work four days a month and get paid six figures!" after a pair of failed pilots for nbc â rodeo drive in october 1980 (later picked as a series for lifetime) and duel in the daytime in august 1981, both produced by jay wolpert â tomarken got his first network job as host of hit man for nbc; it lasted just thirteen weeks, from january 3 to april 1 of 1983. also, he briefly co-anchored a news show on the playboy tv in new york city at the same time. tomarken was then offered the hosting job for press your luck, which he hosted for three seasons on cbs from 1983-1986. after press your luck, tomarken hosted the very short-lived [[ba
1942_births 2006_deaths Accidental_deaths_in_California American_Jews American_game_show_hosts Aviators_killed_in_aviation_accidents_or_incidents_in_the_United_States People_from_New_York People_from_Olean,_New_York Real_estate_brokers University_of_California,_Los_Angeles_alumni