My boyhood was spent in Woodstock, NY, where many important artists have lived and worked. The area attracted spiritual teachers as well, such as Rabindranath Tagore and Vivikenanda. At the age of 16 I began studying with an elderly painter who had come to Woodstock in 1904 to help found the Summer School for the Art Student’s League, an important American school of art. I attended Temple University outside Philadelphia, and later studied art history and art conservation at the New School in New York City. I then spent many years in Woodstock, with my wife and two children, Christina Mehera and Demian Meher. It was there that I first heard of Meher Baba in 1954, which initiated my life-long preoccupation with Him. Not long after that, I began correspondence with Adi K. Irani, Baba's secretary, which lasted until I met Meher Baba in Myrtle Beach, SC in 1958. In 1962 I again had the opportunity to be with Meher Baba in India at the "East West Gathering." I lived for many years in Myrtle Beach, SC near the Meher Baba Center. I presently reside in Asheville, NC with my wife, Catherine Haas Riley.