A native of New York City, Symington attended the Gilman School in Baltimore; he subsequently graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Dutch art history.

[4] While studying at Harvard, Symington discovered the works of Nobel Prize winner Friedrich Hayek, an economist, social theorist and political philosopher who promoted limited government and free markets.

The financing of the project would later play a part in an investigation in his involvement with Southwest Savings and Loan, which provided the funds with Symington on its board of directors.

[6] Other development projects launched by The Symington Company include the Scottsdale Seville, as well as the Mercado, a shopping complex near downtown Phoenix whose design was influenced by southwestern and Hispanic culture.

[9] Additionally, in an attempt to finance the construction of the Mercado, Symington repeatedly filed false financial statements, according to a jury in the case that later led to his resignation as governor, to receive a $10 million loan for the project from a group of Arizona pension funds.

In the Republican primary held on September 11, 1990, Symington was opposed by several high-profile career politicians, including former governor Evan Mecham, who had been impeached in 1988 and was attempting to make a comeback.

[21] Symington's first budget as governor, which totaled more than $3.5 billion, was successfully passed through the state legislature, earning him "high marks" from political analysts at the time, due to its lack of tax increases, as well as for its halting of an incineration project.

[27] Governor Symington, and other former directors of Southwest Savings and Loan, were also the subject of an investigation over their involvement in the failure of the Phoenix-based thrift, with the case later being settled for $12 million.

[28] In November 1992, Symington ended a six-month standoff with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation by signing a compact that allowed the tribe to operate 250 video gambling machines.

The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation settled for a quarter of the machines that had been seized, and also agreed to allow state supervision of the gambling operation.

"[34] Barrett had spent more than $1 million of her own money in the attempt to defeat Symington, who she stated she did not dislike personally, but simply felt that she could do a better job as governor.

"[36] After defeating Basha, Symington, in his election night victory speech, pledged to try to further reduce state income taxes during the course of his second term, as well as continue to eliminate regulatory burden on businesses, and also to "get tough on crime.

"[36] Shortly into his second term in office as governor, Symington filed for personal bankruptcy, claiming debts of more than $24 million, caused by the collapse of his real estate investments.

According to a report in The New York Times, Symington stated that his "hand was forced by a consortium of union pension funds that refused to negotiate a settlement of an $11 million debt.

"[37] To finance the construction of a shopping center and office complex in downtown Phoenix, known as the Mercado, Symington had been lent $10 million from six union pension funds.

The governor decided to go ahead and, accompanied by the Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, fifty unarmed National Guard troops, twenty-five state Park Department employees, and other officials, traveled to the canyon.

[44] While free on appeal, and before receiving a presidential pardon, Symington had attempted to reinvent himself as a private citizen and decided to enroll himself in culinary school.

"[45] During his enrollment at the school, Symington had packed a bag of his belongings in case he had to report to Nellis Federal Prison in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 24 hours notice,[46] but this was made moot following his pardon from President Clinton.

The school was co-founded with several other business partners including chef Robert E. Wilson, entrepreneur Jerry Moyes and former president of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute Darren Leite.

[47] The vision of the school was to create a small class environment with hands on training, with a specific focus on the traditional French methods of cooking.

[47] In addition to his time as a student at culinary school, Symington returned to the Esplanade, a real estate development project that he started in 1983 and eventually lost in the investigation of his business practices, and began working as a dessert and pastry chef at an Italian restaurant at the facility.

"[48] Symington's specialties included tiramisu, as well as a chocolate mousse recipe he created called "The Governor (high taste, low taxes).

"[49] In 2007, Symington revealed he was a witness to the Phoenix Lights, the mass UFO sighting that took place on March 13, 1997, when he was governor of Arizona, a decade before this admission.

"[53] As Governor during the Phoenix Lights, Symington stated he would investigate the event, but went on to hold a press conference where he had his chief of staff dress up in an alien costume.

Prior to the documentary, Fox helped organize the witness panels for both Larry King Live, and the subsequent National Press Club event.

[63][64] Despite Symington's refusal to run again for public office, he has remained involved in state politics, endorsing candidates from both major parties, including Doug Ducey for governor, John McCain for U.S. Senate, and Democrats Ruben Gallego for U.S. Congress and Felecia Rotellini for Arizona Attorney General, among others.

Symington wrote, "Even as we were charging ahead to reform public policy in the brief time given any governor, I was visited by a ruthless pursuit from the world's most inexhaustible adversary.

"[75] In analyzing his performance as governor, Symington also stated in the retrospective, "Arizona's government operated comparatively well, without excess partisan rancor and without so many of the Republican peacocks and Democrat bantam roosters we see running around the political barnyard today.

[75] In July 2016, a discovery was made by Arizona historian Jack August when he located a large collection of missing documents regarding Symington's governorship.

[76] The records were located at a storage facility approximately four miles from the state Capitol building, and was described by The Arizona Republic as the "equivalent of finding the Lost Dutchman's gold.