Graduated from Lowell High School. He attended night classes at the University of California Extension and then San Francisco Law School.
Received his nickname "Pat" because of his oratory skills in junior high school akin to Patrick Henry who he invoked in a seventh-grade speech to convince his parents to invest in Liberty Bonds.
When not running for multiple elected office seats he practiced law with his two brothers representing labor unions and gambling parlors masquerading as "social clubs.".