ZIONSVILLE, Pa.—Patrick Joseph Toomey grew up in Providence the third of six children in a blue-collar, working class family.
Last week, the La Salle Academy graduate won a tight race over Democrat Rep. Joe Sestak to reclaim for Republicans the Senate seat once held by Arlen Specter, who left the Republican Party 19 months ago.
According to La Salle Academy, which checked with the Office of the Historian of the United States Senate, the fact that Toomey, (La Salle Class of ’80), will join Sen. Jack Reed (La Salle Class of ’67), who represents the Ocean State, is one of the few times in the history of the U.S. Senate that two graduates of the same school will serve together in the Senate.
“Out of the tens-of-thousands of high schools in the United States and the hundreds of senators who have served, only La Salle Academy, and a few others can claim such a distinction,” the school noted in a release on their Web site.
Toomey, 49, a Roman Catholic who formerly represented Pennsylvania from 1999-2005 in the U.S. House of Representatives, graduated from La Salle in 1980. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from Harvard University.
Toomey then spent the next six years working in international capital markets. In 1990, Toomey left the financial sector, and he and his brothers started a successful, family-owned restaurant business with several Pennsylvania locations.
In 1997, Toomey, a pro-life advocate, ran and won a seat representing Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District in Washington for three consecutive terms.
Most recently, Toomey served as president of the limited government, free enterprise advocacy organization, The Club for Growth.
Toomey lives in Zionsville, Pa. with his wife Kris and their three children.
