Patrick Reynolds' Bio

bHe founded Tobaccofree Earth in 1989. Its mission is to motivate youth to stay tobacco-free and to empower smokers to quit successfully. Thanks to major grants from Google and donors from the public, today the NGO delivers content to people in over 80 countries. In 2009 when Reynolds met with Greece’s Minister of Health and gave talks there, his visit received national Greek news coverage. He has also spoken in France, the Canary Islands, Dubai, and Monaco, and hopes to tour in India, China, and the Middle East, where smoking rates remain high. 

In 2004, he founded Be An Elf, a Christmas charity that creates public awareness of the USPS Operation Santa® program and has recruited thousands of new volunteers for it. Through the USPS® program, the public may adopt real letters to Santa from needy children online, and send families their gifts directly, with no charity involved. 

Over the years, as Reynolds campaigned for smoking bans, State and Federal tobacco tax hikes, and other new policies, he noticed that Democrats were far more willing to support the health community’s initiatives. Even though every proposed law was supported by a peer-reviewed, evidence-based study, Republican support was mostly weak. Other laws passed with more Democratic support raised the tobacco purchase age to 21 nationally, and FDA regulation of tobacco, which banned candy-flavors from vape products.

While almost all of his colleagues remained largely silent about this, Reynolds pointed out in his university lectures and cable news interviews that Republicans received up to 80% of Big Tobacco’s political donations, peaking in the early 1990’s, and that most were voting the way Big Tobacco lobbied them to. 

Reynolds saw that having Democrats in the majority in Congress would bring progress not only on tobacco policy, but also on climate change, gun control, abortion, immigration reform, and other issues. In 2018 Reynolds started Congress Majority PAC with a mission of getting Democrats elected to Congress. Prior to the 2024 election, Reynolds wrote, produced and narrated 3 TV spots which sent one message: Vote Democrat.

“Our ads pioneer a new direction in political advertising for Democrats,” Reynolds said. “Had they been seen more widely prior to the 2024 election, I believe many more Democrats would have been elected, including Kamala Harris.

“Each of our ads focus on one issue: our ad on the economy compares the Administrations of Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, and our ads on immigration and climate change compare the Parties’ voting records on those issues. All conclude, Vote Democrat, and mention no candidate by name, so our ads can be run in any State.

Since he started Congress Majority PAC, Reynolds has raised over $1.1 million from over 17,000 donors. “We now have a top team in place for strategy, fundraising, compliance, and legal,” Reynolds says. “Our focus will be on fundraising and building a war chest for 2026. Wait till you see the ads we develop for the mid-terms! If we can take back the house or Senate, we will put Donald Trump in check.” 

Prior to his move to politics, in 2019 the San Francisco Chronicle published an editorial Reynolds wrote against vaping products. It congratulated San Franciscans for approving the first citywide ban of the sale of all vaping and flavored tobacco products, except menthol and tobacco flavor. Later that year New York City passed a similar ordinance.

Reynolds was a strong advocate for the Federal tobacco tax hike of 62 cents, signed into law by Obama in 2009 on his 17th day in office, after being tabled by George W. Bush every year for eight years. Reynolds’ USA Today editorial makes a compelling case for higher tobacco taxes.

Reynolds was also a proponent of the Congressional bill for FDA regulation of tobacco. In March, 2009, he met in Washington DC with Rep. Henry Waxman, co-sponsor of the bill, to offer his support. Later that year the bill was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama.

In April 2009, Mr. Reynolds was invited to Greece by Health Minister Avramopoulos to help build public acceptance of Greece’s new no-smoking law. There was strong national Greek news coverage of his visit, and Reynolds successfully focused the public’s attention on the health hazards of smoking and second-hand smoke. Greece’s Ministry of Health shared this letter to Ministers of Health around the world, praising his talks there and the “very positive national media coverage of his visit.” 

Reynolds’ critically acclaimed educational video for grades 6 – 12, The Truth About Tobacco, was purchased by 12,000 schools and health departments. The video shows an impassioned live talk Patrick gave to 1,000 9th graders in 2,000. 

In both his live talks for middle and high schools and in his educational video, Reynolds delivers his strong feelings about his father’s death from smoking, the addictiveness of nicotine, cigarette advertising, and smoking by stars in movies. He also tells the tragic, powerful story of Sean Marsee, a high school track star who died at 19 from chewing tobacco, and shows before and after pictures, with his formerly handsome face disfigured by mouth cancer at age 20.

His video and live talks include Reynolds’ unique initiation into life for teens. He concludes his talks with his inspiring message of hope for the future and his vision of the coming tobaccofree society. “My goal is to reassure teens in a time of new diseases, economic uncertainty, wars, and terrorism. I share my faith in the future with them, and urge them to hold on to their health “for the amazing years ahead, and not throw their lives away on drugs, tobacco, or alcohol.” 

For additional video clips of Mr. Reynolds’ live talks, click here, and for a sampling of his TV news interviews, click here. His video The Truth About Tobacco for age 11 – 18 received acclaim from educators, and his live talks have won much praise.

Since first speaking out publicly in 1986, Patrick Reynolds has spoken before numerous municipal and State legislatures in support of proposed smoking bans. He also campaigned for State and Federal cigarette tax increases, and laws to limit youth access to cigarettes. He approached several members of the US Congress about the aggressive advertising of US brands in the Third World and Asia.

In 1987 Mr. Reynolds testified a second time in Congress, joining the many voices who helped bring about the ban of smoking on planes. The UN’s World Health Organization honored him with a special award in 1988, and in 1989, Chicago’s Mt. Sinai Hospital awarded him its Humanitarian of the Year award.

 Fun Facts 

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Mr. Reynolds coauthored a bestselling family biography with author Tom Shachtman, The Gilded Leaf: Triumph, Tragedy, and Tobacco – Three Generations of the RJ Reynolds Family and Fortune. The book was published to critical acclaim by Little Brown in 1989 and became a bestseller. It’s available on Amazon. 

Reynolds hopes to sell the colorful Reynolds family story as a TV series. It recounts the saga of three generations of his sometimes scandalous family, and covers the dramatic lives of Patrick’s grandfather, tobacco company tycoon RJ Reynolds, and his father, R.J.Reynolds, Jr. In the third generation, the book covers Patrick’s eccentric older half-brother Zach Reynolds, who died tragically in a small plane crash at age 41, and Patrick’s younger days. It details his transition from film student to wealthy jet-setting actor in Hollywood, to becoming a leading spokesperson for the growing anti-smoking movement in the 1980’s. For family photos, book reviews, and selected excerpts, click here.

In 1974 Reynolds was a film student at USC. His new live-in girlfriend, upcoming actress Shelley Duvall, invited him to visit her on the set of Nashville, and Director Robert Altman unexpectedly asked Patrick to appear in the film.

Following that, Reynolds studied acting with Lee Strasburg and other respected acting coaches, and acted parts in several films and TV shows. His acting video clips and resume on IMDb include a starring role in the sci-fi film Eliminators, released in 1,200 theatres in January, 1986. Later that year, he changed course, and spoke out publicly in Congress against the tobacco industry. 

In 1983, Reynolds married Regine Wahl, a German.  Their wedding in Bavaria was a lavish affair with 12 horse drawn carriages, with the public lining the street dressed in traditional German lederhosen. The best man was Mohamed Khashoggi, eldest son of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Mohamed arrived at Patrick’s wedding with Robin Williams in a helicopter piloted by his first cousin, Dodi Fayed, who would later date Princess Diana. Patrick and Regine lived on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and divorced in 1985, after only two years. There were no children, and in 2025 they remain good friends.

In January, 1986, the feature film Eliminators was released, but in July, Patrick turned away from acting after speaking out publicly in Congress against Big Tobacco. Thrust into the national spotlight, he took up his new calling in earnest. 

In younger days, Reynolds attended the prestigious Connecticut prep school Hotchkiss where he edited the literary magazine. In Fall, 1967 he arrived as a Freshman at UC Berkeley, an epicenter of the turbulent 1960’s. He rowed on the crew team, majored in English, joined the TKE fraternity, and grew his hair long to annoy his mother, former Warner Brothers contract starlet, Marianne O’Brien, who remained in their homes in lived in Miami and New York City. She passed away in 1985. 

In 1969, a mentor of Patrick’s, Berkeley film Professor Albert Johnson, was the director of the San Francisco Film Festival. He encouraged Patrick to make a documentary about Berkeley. He did. Titled ‘Berkeley’, Reynolds’ 35 minute film was shown at the 1970 Cannes film festival and won a prize. 

In 2007 Patrick married Alexandra Olympios, and they have a son, born in 2009.