Patrick J. Lynch is a proud first-generation Irish-American and a lifelong New Yorker, as well as president of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, the nation’s largest municipal police union. Like so many Irish New Yorkers, civil service is in Pat Lynch’s blood. He first followed his father, subway motorman Robert B. Lynch, into the New York City Transit Authority as a subway conductor, before joining his great-grandfather, uncle and brother among the ranks of New York’s Finest in 1984. During his years on patrol, he earned three Exceptional Police Duty awards and one Exceptional Merit Citation for his part in aiding two fellow police officers who had been shot by an assailant.
Since being elected as PBA President in 1999, Pat has transformed the union into a member-driven service organization and has presided over seven hard-fought contract battles that have increased police pay by nearly 80%. He is not only the face of the PBA and the voice of the rank-and-file New York City cops — he has become one of the most recognized advocates for law enforcement nationwide. Pat has previously been honored as the NYPD Emerald Society’s “Person of the Year” and as Grand Marshal of St. Patrick’s Day parades in Glen Cove, Long Beach, Bayside and — most notably — in the town of Kiltimagh in County Mayo, where his mother Mary was born. Pat is the seventh of seven children and an alumnus of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish School. He and his wife, the former Kathleen Casey, continue to reside in Bayside, Queens, just blocks from where he grew up. Their two sons and nephew are all New York City police officer