Peeples was born in 1945 and raised in Lynch, a segregated coal town in Harlan County. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1968 - the same year the Urban League of Lexington was founded, amid a wave of racial unrest and turmoil across the country. He started as a volunteer, befriending the League's first director out of the old YMCA on Second Street. When that director left, Peeples stepped in - and at 24, became the youngest Urban League director in the country.
He would go on to lead the organization for 57 years. Under his watch, the Urban League expanded job training, education programs, and housing initiatives, building more than 270 affordable housing units.
He also chaired the first Fayette County Public Schools Equity Council, and FCPS named its annual equity award after him in 2003.
In a 2018 interview with WUKY celebrating the urban league's 50th anniversary, Peeples reflected on how much the country had changed, and how much hadn't.
"Let's face it, we may not want to call it unrest today but in my opinion there's a lot of unrest in our country and it's almost like deja vu," Peeples said. "But what that says is we need an Urban League today as much as we did back then."
Mayor Linda Gorton called Peeples a close friend and collaborator. "Our city is a better place because of his strong leadership," she said. Governor Andy Beshear called him a civil rights champion, saying his impact "will be felt for generations.