I was born in Olean, N.Y on July 2, 1947. My mother and father lived in a refurbished cabin in the mountains of Port Allegheny, PA. My Father was a director of oil fields and my mother had been educated and worked as a fashion artist.

When the oil fields dried up, my parents moved to the Philadelphia area. My family and I moved around a lot in those early years, and finally settled in Delaware County where I have spent most of my life.

As a child I loved art, mechanical toys, trains and erector sets. My mother stressed throughout my childhood that I should never become an artist because “artists can never make a living.” Therefore, as I approached the end of high school, I settled on a career in engineering.

The day I signed up for Mechanical Engineering Technology at Temple, I knew I had chosen the wrong field. But I finished the program and worked as a mechanical designer and draftsman for 3-1/2 years. I worked my way into technical illustration, took some courses at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), and found a job as an artist at a marketing firm. After four years as an Art Director, I was promoted to Creative Director, moved on to a job at an advertising firm, and then formed my own design business in 1978.