Los Angeles County
Biographies
THOMAS PATRICK WHITE
WHITE, THOMAS PATRICK, Attorney at Law, Los Angeles, California, is a native of that city, born September 27, 1888. He is the son of Peter White and Catherine (Clark) White, of Irish lineage. His father was born in Ireland, but has been a resident of California since his twenty-first year.
Mr. White received his preliminary education in the Catholic parochial schools of Los Angeles and followed this with attendance at St. Vincent’s High School of the same city, being graduated in the class of 1904. He then attended St. Vincent’s College for a term, but did not finish, going to work instead. After a lapse of several years, during which he earned his own livelihood, Mr. White, in 1908, entered the University of Southern California, College of Law, and was graduated in the class of 1911 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the practice of his profession by the District Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District, on June 19, 1911, and in the same year was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit and District Courts of California. He became a member of the firm of Randall, Bartlett & White of Los Angeles, and has been active in legal practice since.
Mr. White has had considerably more experience in business and professional circles than most young attorneys, and the immediate success attending his efforts placed him among the prominent practitioners of Southern California. From the time he left St. Vincent’s College until he entered the College of Law he was in the railroad business, being connected with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Company. He began as Rate Clerk in the Los Angeles general offices of the company, then served in various capacities and when he resigned in 1908, to study for his professional career, was occupying the position of Assistant to the Trainmaster at Needles, California, one of the important division points on the Santa Fe transcontinental system.
During his entire connection with the railroad, however, Mr. White cherished an ambition to become a member of the legal profession and worked with that end in view at all times. He devoted most of his spare time to special study and was unusually well prepared when he entered the College.
Possessed of extraordinary oratorical gifts, Mr. White attained prominence during his college career as a debater and represented the University of Southern California in several important contests. He was its chief reliance in the intercollegiate debate against the Cornell University team in 1910 and also in the contest with the University of Washington the following year.
Since his graduation Mr. White’s ability as a speaker has been recognized and he has been unusually active in political and civic life in Los Angeles. He early espoused the cause of the Republican party and when he was just twenty-one years of age was elected as a delegate to the Los Angeles County Republican Convention. He has been one of the party’s campaign speakers ever since that time and has also spoken in behalf of various public improvements.
A clear thinker and a man of progressive ideas, Mr. White was chosen, shortly after his admission to practice, as attorney for the Boards of Education of several Union High School Districts in Los Angeles County and still acts in that capacity.
He also takes a prominent part in Catholic affairs in California, being Financial Secretary of the Los Angeles Council of the Knights of Columbus and Grand President of the California Jurisdiction of the Young Men’s Institute. This organization, made up of members of the Catholic faith, is one of the leading fraternal organizations of the United States and in California has an unusually large membership. Mr. White has been prominent in its affairs for several years and has held various offices, including that of Vice President of the Grand Council. He was elected to the office of Grand President at the Institute’s convention, held on August 21, 1912, at Vallejo, California, and had the distinction of being the first man from Los Angeles to attain that office in twenty-eight years. His election was celebrated by a testimonial banquet a short time later, at which Bishop Conaty, head of the Catholic diocese of Los Angeles, public officials and numerous other prominent men were present.
He is a member of Delta Chi legal fraternity, Los Angeles Bar Association, Native Sons of the Golden West, and Chamber of Commerce.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 539,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
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BIOGRAPIES