Born in Castillejos, Zambales, Gordon is son of James Leonard Gordon, a local politician of half American Jewish roots, who was the second municipal mayor of Olongapo and first mayor of Olongapo when it was converted into a city (from December 30, 1963 until his death on February 20, 1967), and Amelia Juico-Gordon, Olongapo's mayor from June 1967 to June 30, 1972.
