Clair Cameron "Pat" Patterson (1922-1995) had a career in geochemistry which over 40 years witnessed a remarkable evolution from the dawn of nuclear chemistry to the cutting edge of mankind's place in the global environment. The measure of scientific success for Dr. Patterson was not so much in his many individual accomplishments as it was in guiding the evolution of a field. The field in this case is geochemistry, and the evolution is a matter of not just the intellectual gifts he contributed, but how he, more than most, affected the peer heritage in the field of trace element geochemistry. The Patterson geochemical heritage is traced from his boyhood roots to the Chicago graduate days born out of the torments of the Manhattan project, to environmental concerns about trace element pollution of the globe, and finally to man's functioning in the Global Commons as it may be affecting the future of the human mind.