William Penn Patrick

William Penn Patrick (March 31, 1930 – June 9, 1973) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, and fraudster. He was the owner of Holiday Magic, Leadership Dynamics, and Mind Dynamics. Patrick was a proponent of the sour grapes philosophy, and has been widely quoted as stating: "Those who condemn wealth are those who have none and see no chance of getting it."

Patrick tried unsuccessfully to enter politics, first running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination for governor of California, and was later nominated by the California Theocratic Party for Vice President of the United States. Patrick was a member of the John Birch Society.

In 1972 an F-86 Sabre jet, owned by Patrick, crashed into an ice cream parlor in Sacramento, killing 22 people on the ground. Patrick was not the pilot at that time, but a year later he died in a crash in his P-51D Mustang in Lakeport, California.

Business career After high school, Penn Patrick joined the Air Force. In the late 1950s, he enrolled in Sacramento State College and started teaching in a junior high school after earning a temporary teaching credential. He graduated in history and political science. In 1964, he bought the cosmetics company Zolene for $16,500. He renamed it Holiday Magic (located 616 Canal St. in San Rafael) and turned it into a million-dollar operation within the first year. The products were labelled natural and organic, a claim that was later dropped. The company was rapidly hit by lawsuits for false advertising about the content of its products. and Holiday Magic, a door-to-door cosmetics company later termed by the United States Federal government to be fraudulent. Mind Dynamics was initially founded by Alexander Everett, and Patrick backed the company before buying it.

The motivation techniques of Leadership Dynamics were criticized. Those included tying people to crosses or locking them in a closed coffin, all of which Penn Patrick did not deny. Some witnessed great physical distress during the training sessions. The sales methods of Leadership Dynamics were applied in all the subsidiaries of the group.

Political career In November 1965,

Patrick finished in 4th place in the primary election with 1.87% of the vote and lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan. Patrick paid a total of $327,000 for his campaign and got 38,792 votes (against 1,385,550 for Reagan). In 1967, Patrick formed a fundraising group to run for Thomas Kuchel's Senate seat. Patrick was later nominated for Vice President of the United States, in 1967, by the California Theocratic Party. The Los Angeles Times referred to Patrick as the "strangest politician". He was mainly popular among ultraconservative and ultra right political circles in California.

At a July 1967 Republican rally, he declared "I disagree with those who want to impeach Earl Warren, I think they should hang him." and swindling $250 million from 80,000 distributors.

California Deputy Attorney General John Porter was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1977 saying "The guy who stole the most money in California was the late William Penn Patrick, he probably hurt more people than any other promoter in our history". near his farm at Clearlake Oaks, California. He was flying the plane at the time; after making a low pass, he pulled up steeply, stalled, and entered a spin from which he did not recover. Although he was a certified pilot, he had only 154 hours of flight time in the P-51D, and only about four hours over the preceding three months. He was flying with Christian George Hagert, 30, director of Holiday Magic of Helsinki, Finland, who also died in the crash.

After his death, his wife supposedly found a secret room in their mansion where $480,000 in cash was hidden. However, after the Holiday Magic trial, all of Patrick's assets were seized. Holiday Magic kept running, but the new President of the company had to get rid of at least 80 useless shell companies.