Peter Wyatt, 77, West Boylston, Mass., died Jan. 24. He was the co-founder and former president of New England Diamond (N-E-D) Corp., one of the largest privately-owned American manufacturers of diamond tools, with more than 100 employees and six service centers across the United States.

At 18, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and served as a radio operator during the Korean War. After the Air Force, he returned to Worcester, Mass., and graduated from the New England School of Accounting in 1959.

In 1964, Wyatt used a personal loan to co-found N-E-D Corp. where he worked for the rest of his career, retiring as president in 2005. He held a patent for a “high-pressure, robotic water-jet stone cutting method” and was closely involved in the stone industry, serving as a member of Allied Stone Institute and the North America Monument Builders Association, as well as a past-president of Stone Expo Association.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Barbara, two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Salvation Army at 640 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01608, or the Be-Like-Brit Foundation, which is building an orphanage in Haiti, Britney Gengel’s Poorest of Poor Fund, Inc, PO Box 355, Rutland, MA 01543, http://belikebrit.org.