Tim Pawlenty - Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Eugene Joseph Pawlenty, and his wife, Virginia Frances (née Oldenburg). His father, who drove a milk delivery truck, was of Polish descent, while his mother was of German ancestry. His mother died of cancer when he was 16. Pawlenty grew up in South St. Paul, where he played ice hockey on his high school's junior varsity squad.

Intending to become a dentist, Pawlenty enrolled in the University of Minnesota, the only one in his family to go beyond high school. However, he changed his plans and spent the summers of 1980 and 1982 working as an intern at the office of U.S. Senator David Durenberger. In 1983, he graduated with a B.A. in political science. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1986. While in law school, he met wife, Mary Anderson, whom he married in 1987.

Pawlenty first worked as a labor law attorney at the firm Rider Bennett (later Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel), where he had interned while a law student. He later became vice president of a software as a service company, Wizmo Inc.

Having moved to Eagan, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission by Mayor Vic Ellison. One year later, at age 28, he was elected to the City Council.

Pawlenty entered state politics in 1990 as a campaign advisor for Jon Grunseth's losing bid for Minnesota governor. After Pawlenty himself became governor, he appointed Grunseth's ex-wife, Vicky Tigwell, to the board of the Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport, an action which became an ethics and accountability issue in 2003.