I was raised in suburban Detroit. My father Clarence was an auto mechanic and a salesman until his death from pancreatic cancer when I was 22 years old. My mother Elizabeth was a homemaker. 

My folks taught me the value of hard work. Importantly, they taught me the value of honor, dignity, and integrity. Values they modeled in everything they did. Values that I practice in everything I do. 

I have over the course of my youth and prior to beginning my legal career washed dishes, worked as a janitor, worked in fast food, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, as a bartender, and as a courier delivery man.

I graduated from Southgate High School in 1978 and attended Western Michigan University, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration and Sociology in 1982. I took three years after graduation, living at home, to save the money necessary to attend law school. I graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1988. 

I returned to Kalamazoo in January 1989 having been hired as an Assistant Prosecutor. I remained there until I began my own solo private practice in 1993. I was then hired as a Referee by the Berrien County Family Court in 2003. I served in that capacity to 2009. I was laid off due to the 2008 financial crisis. I then served as a Magistrate/Court Administrator until 2010 in South Haven; before I returned to Berrien County. I remained there until my retirement in October of 2024.

My wife Wendy and I have been married for 33 years. We have a son and a daughter. We have been residents of Paw Paw Township for 29 years.