Meet Peter Buffett’s Children: Nicole Buffett and Erica Buffett

Peter Andrew Buffett, born on May 4, 1958, in Omaha, Nebraska, is best known as the youngest son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett and activist Susan Thompson Buffett.

Despite growing up in one of the world’s most famous financial families, Peter’s upbringing was intentionally modest, emphasizing self-reliance and humility over wealth and luxury.

He was raised alongside his siblings, Susan Alice Buffett (born 1953) and Howard Graham Buffett (born 1954), in a Presbyterian household, though Warren Buffett himself identifies as agnostic. His ancestry is primarily English and German.

Peter attended Omaha Central High School and later enrolled at Stanford University, though he left before completing his degree. At age 19, he received a $90,000 inheritance in Berkshire Hathaway stock, which he used to launch his music career in San Francisco.

Rather than following his father into finance, Peter pursued a creative path as a musician, composer, and author, eventually winning an Emmy Award for his work on film scores, including contributions to Dances with Wolves.

Standing about 1.78 meters (5’10”), Peter has also built a personal life defined by family and philanthropy. He first married Mary Buffett in 1981, legally adopting her twin daughters from a previous relationship, Nicole Buffett and Erica Buffett (born around 1977).

The marriage lasted until 1993, but Peter’s role as a father remained constant. In June 1996, he married Jennifer Buffett, with whom he co-chairs the NoVo Foundation, a global philanthropic organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, reducing gender-based violence, and supporting indigenous communities. The couple has no biological children together.

Peter continues to balance music, writing, and philanthropy. His best-selling book Life Is What You Make It has inspired a live performance series of the same name, blending storytelling and music to share his life philosophy.

Now in his late 60s, Peter remains committed to creativity and social change, echoing his father’s belief in giving children “enough money so that they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing.”

Nicole Buffett

Nicole Buffett, now 48, embodies the artistic spirit that runs through the Buffett veins—her grandmother, Susan Thompson Buffett, was a cabaret performer, and Peter himself is a lifelong musician.

Raised in the Bay Area after her parents’ divorce, Nicole grew up visiting her grandfather Warren‘s modest Omaha home, a five-bedroom stucco house bought for $31,500 in 1958, where the family emphasized humility despite their immense wealth.

“A lot of people don’t realize that my family is full of artists,” Nicole once said, recalling warm moments like receiving a crisp $100 bill from Warren at Christmas or joining family vacations at his Laguna Beach compound.

Education was the cornerstone of Warren‘s support for his grandchildren. He covered Nicole‘s tuition at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she honed her skills as an abstract painter inspired by landscapes. Over the years, he spent more than $100,000 on her living and educational expenses, providing aid until she was approximately 28.

However, the boundaries were strict: When Nicole once asked for help buying a futon for her off-campus apartment, Warren‘s secretary replied, “You know the rules—school only.”

This reflected the Buffett meritocracy, where self-sufficiency trumped handouts. Susan Buffett, who passed away in 2004, adored Nicole, naming her one of her “adored grandchildren” in her will and leaving her $100,000—along with the same for Erica—treating them “as if they were children of my son, Peter A. Buffett.”

Nicole‘s life took a dramatic turn in 2006 when she participated in Jamie Johnson‘s documentary, “The One Per cent,” which explored wealth inequality in America. As the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune interviewed other scions of billionaire families, Nicole shared candid insights into being Warren Buffett’s granddaughter.

“Money is the spoke in his wheel of life,” she remarked, highlighting the irony of her modest existence—no cable TV, no health insurance, scraping by on $40,000 a year from her paintings—while bearing the Buffett name.

Promoting the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show, she expressed a longing to be “involved in creating things for others with that money,” feeling “completely excluded” from the family fortune.

The backlash was swift and personal. Warren, a fiercely private man, sent Nicole a letter stating, “I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin.” He signed it simply “Warren,” a stark contrast to the “Grandpa” cards she had received before.

The estrangement extended to Erica, fracturing family ties. Sources close to Warren argued that Nicole had exaggerated their relationship, noting that their biological father was still alive and that the adoption by Peter occurred later in their teens.

Peter, caught in the middle, told media outlets, “I don’t have an easy answer for where my father is coming from… But I know I can’t change the spots on a leopard.”

Undeterred, Nicole built a career in art. Her abstract works, often evoking natural serenity, have been exhibited widely. During the NFT boom of the early 2020s, she pivoted to digital art, creating non-fungible tokens that allowed her to “open up new dimensions” in her expression and reach global audiences.

By 2022, she was designing NFTs, turning her passion into a sustainable livelihood despite the market’s volatility.

Though the rift with Warren lingered for years, reports suggest a reconciliation by 2022, allowing Nicole to reconnect with the family on her own terms.

Erica Buffett

In contrast to Nicole‘s public profile, Erica Buffett, Nicole‘s identical twin, has maintained a lower one, channelling her energies into philanthropy and family.

Born just minutes apart, the sisters shared a childhood steeped in the Buffett values of education and independence. Like Nicole, Erica benefited from Warren‘s financial support for college and received the $100,000 inheritance from Susan‘s estate.

However, the 2006 documentary fallout affected her equally, with Warren’s letter disavowing their status in the family.

Despite this, Erica has forged a path aligned with the Buffett legacy of giving back. Erica serves as a senior adviser at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), a major international humanitarian organization. Her work focuses on addressing root causes of migration from rural communities in Central America and Mexico, collaborating closely with her uncle Howard Buffett, whose Howard G. Buffett Foundation tackles similar issues.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Erica helped reorient foundation efforts toward agricultural support and humanitarian aid in the war-torn region, echoing Howard‘s on-the-ground visits and writings on freedom and resilience.

Her role at CRS underscores a commitment to systemic change, much like Peter‘s critiques of “philanthropic colonialism” in his 2013 New York Times op-ed.

Little is publicly known about Erica‘s personal life or career beyond her nonprofit work, a choice that aligns with the family’s preference for privacy. She maintains a close relationship with Peter, who has described his daughters as integral to his life, even amid the family’s high-profile dynamics.