Paul Pelosi Was Assaulted in His Home

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Since 1987, when Nancy Pelosi was first elected to Congress, her husband, Paul Pelosi, has been right by her side—but mainly stayed out of the spotlight.

"I understand, of course, that since a woman has had such a phenomenal success [people wonder], 'Who is this guy she's married to for 47 years and has five kids?' " he said in 2009. "I understand the curiosity about that. But it's her celebrity. It's her career. It's her responsibility. I'm enormously supportive and proud about it but I see absolutely no percentage in trying to share the limelight."

In October 2022, Paul was assaulted after an intruder broke into their San Francisco home. "Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi," Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement on Friday. "The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation."

With the shocking news of the assault, you may be wondering: Who is Paul Pelsoi? Here, everything you need to know about Nancy Pelosi's husband.

Paul Pelsoi was born and raised in San Francisco.

Paul is the youngest of three boys. His brother, David, tragically died in a 1957 car crash—Paul was driving, and was acquitted of misdemeanor manslaughter.

While attending Georgetown University, he met Nancy D'Alesandro, who was attending Trinity College nearby. In a speech at Georgetown in 2002, Nancy recalled, "I met my husband Paul here while we both took a summer school class at SFS called 'The History of Africa, South of the Sahara,' taught by the legendary Dr. Carroll Quigley."

In 1963, Paul and Nancy married in Baltimore. They soon moved to New York, then back to Paul's hometown of San Francisco.

He founded and runs a venture capital firm, Financial Leasing Services.

One profile of Paul in 2009 read, "He knew the fortune he amassed as an investor and developer in San Francisco—estimated through her 2008 financial disclosure filings to range from $24 million to $108 million—would be a distraction" for Nancy's political career.

"Let me put it this way," Paul said. "I think I have a good radar in terms of what kind of business investments would be inappropriate for me given her position. And I can't think of an investment I discussed with her and said, 'Is this a good idea or is it a problem?' Back in the day when she first went into government and I was in real estate, I never did anything with resolution trust—there were tremendous opportunities there to go buy things and make a lot of dough. I never did because I thought if I did and I made dough that there would be something they would obviously criticize her for."

He added, "So I've religiously steered away from anything that would look controversial to her position."

He was notably in the spotlight when he invested in the United Football League, a rival league to the NFL. In 2009, he purchased the California Redwoods, a team in the UFL, which became the Sacramento Mountain Lions. The league folded in 2012.

He lives in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

He and Nancy have five children and nine grandchildren.

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