Fitzgerald was born in Sydney and educated at Christian Brothers College, Waverley and Paddington Junior Technical School.

[1][2] He worked at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops and then for the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board, which stationed him at their Leichhardt depot from 1939 and seconded him to the federal deputy director of Manpower from 1942 to 1946.

He was an active member of the Labor Party for many years, serving as a member of the party's state central executive from 1941 to 1948 and 1956 to 1961, a member of the central organising committee for twelve years, secretary of the Waverley electorate council for 25 years, and a long-serving secretary of the Randwick North branch and president of the Waverley branch.

He vocally opposed an attempted spill against Evatt in late 1954, and became secretary to the Parliamentary Labor Party in 1955.

[4][2][3] Fitzgerald was defeated in 1955 amidst a bad nationwide Labor loss and an electoral redistribution that significantly cut his margin in Phillip.