Paul E. Patton

Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800. Since early 2010, he has been the president of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky, and he served as chairman of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education from 2009 to 2011. After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1959, Patton became wealthy operating coal mines for 20 years. He sold most of his coal interests in the late 1970s and entered politics, serving briefly in the cabinet of Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. and chairing the state Democratic Party. In...