Perceptor was founded over 25 years ago by John Kidner. John was a Chartered Accountant who spent nearly 20 years working as an internal auditor before deciding to leave the corporate world to turn his astronomy hobby into a full-time career. Perceptor was originally located in Toronto on Kingston Road. John and his wife Susanne moved the business to the Brownsville Junction Plaza in Schomberg, where Perceptor has been located for the past 19 years.

John and Susanne have operated their business, Perceptor, with great integrity, honesty and passion, attracting loyal customers from across Canada. Sadly, John passed away in September of 2006.

Susanne sold the Perceptor business to Lauri Kangas of Caledon in October of 2006. Lauri who is an amateur astronomer, had been a Perceptor customer for many years, after he and his wife Diana moved to Caledon to escape the light polluted skies of Oakville. Lauri retired from his job in Information Technology to take over the Perceptor business allowing him to get more involved in his passion for astronomy.

As of July 4, 2009,

there has been an ownership change at Perceptor. Jerry Wright, the new owner has been an amateur astronomer since 1992 when he bought a 10" Meade LX5 from John and Susanne Kidner at Perceptor. The original interest was planted though in the 1960's when growing up in Dundas, Ontario, Jerry's father brought home a the classic Unitron 60mm refractor. More recently since witnessing the comet Shoemaker-Levy impact on Jupiter through a Ceravolo HD143 he became a more avid observer. He has been fortunate enough to have used high quality equipment from Celestron, Takahashi, Tele Vue, TMB, Vixen, etc., and is pleased to be able to procure some of the finest equipment available in astronomy today, for his customers.

Jerry would like to thank Lauri for the graciousness he has shown while the business was transferred and for the exceptional business acumen and integrity shown to Jerry during the transition of Perceptor. He also considers himself a friend of Susanne Kidner and the late John Kidner the originator of Perceptor and wish her and her family the very best in the future.