Early Life and Education
Thomas Edward Perez was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, to parents Rafael and Grace (née Brache) Perez, who were both first generation Dominican immigrants. His father Rafael, who earned U.S. citizenship after enlisting in the U.S. Army after World War II, worked as a doctor in Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Buffalo where he worked as a physician at a VA hospital. His mother Grace, who came to the United States in 1930 after her father, Rafael Brache, was appointed as the Dominican Republic's Ambassador to the United States, remained in the U.S. after Ambassador Brache was declared persona non grata by his own government, for speaking out against Dominican President Rafael Trujillo's regime. Perez, who was the youngest of four brother and sisters (who all followed their father in becoming doctors), suffered the loss of their father when he died of a heart attack, when Perez was 12 years old. He graduated from Canisius High School, an all men's Roman Catholic Jesuit private school, in 1979.
Perez received his Bachelor of Arts in international relations and political science from Brown University in 1983. He also received his Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1987. While attending Brown, Perez put himself through college with the help of scholarships and pell grants, while also working as a trash collector and in a warehouse to help pay for the cost of his tuition. Later gaining a position working in Brown University's dining hall. During his time at Harvard Law, Perez worked as a law clerk for then Attorney General Edwin Meese in 1986.
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