Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967.
Brown was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Edmund and Ida Schuckman Brown. He was one of four children. His father was Irish Catholic, his mother a German Protestant. He acquired the nickname "Pat" during his school years. When he was 12 years old, he sold Liberty Bonds on street corners. He would end h...
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Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967.
Brown was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Edmund and Ida Schuckman Brown. He was one of four children. His father was Irish Catholic, his mother a German Protestant. He acquired the nickname "Pat" during his school years. When he was 12 years old, he sold Liberty Bonds on street corners. He would end his spiel with, "Give me liberty, or give me death." The nickname was a reference to his Patrick Henry-like oratory. He graduated from Lowell High School where he was a high school debate champion as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. After high school, Brown skipped college and instead worked in his father's cigar store and ran an illegal gambling room, while studying law at a local night school. He graduated from San Francisco Law School in 1927. He took some University of California extension courses, but acquired his broad knowledge...
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