Paul was born the youngest of six children (they kept trying until they got it right!) to James and Mary (nee Rooney) Mannix, who themselves were the children of Irish immigrants from Kerry, Tipperary, Leitrim and Galway. Raised in Whitestone, he attended St. Luke’s Grammar School (as his mother had) and then St. Francis Preparatory School. At the tender age of 20-years, Paul joined the NYPD where he worked in the 28th Precinct while proudly wearing his father’s shield. After five years he joined the FDNY in 1988 (68 years after his grandfather Patrick Rooney had). Just as he did on the NYPD, Paul became a proud member of the Holy Name Society and the Emerald Society. He later joined the Emerald Executive Board and was named Emerald Irishman of the Year in 2013. In 2016 he was elected to the Uniformed Fire Officers Association Executive Board where he served for six years before retiring in 2022. Paul still can’t believe his wife Monika agreed to marry him (his own father said he wasn’t good enough for her) but thankfully she did. Together they have proudly raised two children – Sean, an actor and graduate of the NYU Tisch School living in NYC, and Kerry, a Pace University graduate who is now a reporter for KVIA ABC-7 in El Paso, Texas.