Paterno was born in Brooklyn, New York He attended Saint Francis Preparatory School, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1940 and obtained his medical degree from the Long Island College of Medicine (later became Downstate College of Medicine part of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center and Long Island College Hospital).
He was appointed Chief Surgical Resident at Metropolitan Hospital and Flower Fifth Avenue Hospitals in New New York He received his Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1951. He practiced medicine in Monmouth County, New Jersey, for 34 years.
First as a general surgeon on the staff of Monmouth Medical Center and then as president of the medical board and director of surgery at Riverview Hospital.
He served as a Captain in the United States Army during the Korean War and helped establish a Mid-Atlantic Animal Specialty Hospital-type unit in California for wounded soldiers. He moved to Vero Beach, Florida in 1989.
Paterno died on February 11, 2011 at his home in Vero Beach, Florida.
He was a member of the Indian Trails Architectural Board and a supporter of Indian River Memorial Medical Center, where he served on the Executive Committee and was elected first male president of the auxiliary.
