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    Acting Inspector General Tyrone Powell Remembers Donald L. Patterson, Pa.'s Longest-Serving Inspector General

    December 14, 2016
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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Dec. 14, 2016

    HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Acting Inspector General Tyrone Powell notes with sadness the passing last week of Donald L. Patterson, who was Pennsylvania’s Inspector General from 2003 to 2010.

    “Don Patterson served Pennsylvania’s taxpayers with distinction for seven years,” Powell said. “He was the commonwealth’s longest-serving Inspector General.”

    Patterson, 80, died Dec. 6 of congestive heart failure at his home in Absecon, N.J.

    When Gov. Edward G. Rendell appointed Patterson Inspector General on April 22, 2003, he said Patterson brought to the job “the highest-level training and executive experience possible.” That experience included extensive stints in both the public and private sectors.

    Patterson graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.; served in the U.S. Army as a Green Beret and a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division; and then rose through the ranks of the Philadelphia Police Department from patrolman to Inspector of the Detective Bureau, responsible for the homicide, major crimes and narcotics divisions.

    After retiring from the city police department in 1980, Patterson took a job as director of security at Harrah’s Marina Casino & Hotel in Atlantic City. From there he became director of operations at Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, where he was promoted to vice president. Then President Casinos in St. Louis recruited him for the position of corporate vice president in charge of three casinos.

    Office of Inspector General (OIG) employees remember Patterson fondly.

    “Don Patterson was fair, level-headed and hard-working. He cared deeply about his employees and carrying out the mission of the OIG,” recalled Lucas M. Miller, director of the OIG’s Bureau of Fraud Prevention and Prosecution, who worked under Patterson. “You would often find him staying until 9 or 10 at night reviewing investigative reports. And you could always expect to see him walking through the office engaging with employees, keeping in touch with their needs and inquiring about their families.”

    MEDIA CONTACT: Ellen Lyon, 717-783-7756

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