Perunko graduated from Kent State in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts followed by a Masters of Fine Arts from the same institution in 1988. While working on his masters, he studied under William Quinn and Charles Basham. He specializes in pastels and oils and his genre is landscapes. Perunko worked in a traditional plaine-aire method of turning an outdoor sketch into larger work if it has merit.

Perunko taught art and art history at Western Reserve High School and at Warren G. Harding High School, both in the Warren City School District in Ohio.

His paintings are in the permanent collection of Kent State University, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital.