Peters died from hospital-acquired COVID-19 on April 13, 2020, four days before his 83rd birthday. He contracted the virus while in a Bloomington hospital recovering from a fall. 
Peters name was included in the May 2020 New York Times tribute U.S. Deaths Near 100,000, An Incalculable Loss to the 100,000 Americans who lost their lives as a direct result of the pandemic. A reporter for the Indiana Daily Student' wrote that "Peters had a roaring voice that filled lecture halls".