Didi Pei earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in Physics from Harvard College in 1968. He then went on to graduate in 1972 from the Graduate School of Design with a Master's Degree in Architecture. Prior to founding Pei Partnership with his brother, Didi Pei spent the first 20 years of his professional career contributing to a range of prestigious projects at I.M. Pei & Partners (now Pei Cobb Freed & Partners), including the Grand Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.