I started collecting minerals at age 12 in Danbury, Connecticut, where Ronald Januzzi mentored many kids, including me. There, I developed a life-long interest in the minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill, NJ. After moving to Ohio, I attended Ohio State, where I received a BS, MS (in glaciology) and PhD degree. My doctoral work was done in New Hampshire. From there, I taught geology at Waynesburg College, in Pennsylvania, from 1970-1989, at which point the administration there did away with the geology major. While at Waynesburg, my colleagues and I operated the Waynesburg College Geology Field Station, in Florissant, Colorado (until 1988). I met my future wife, Nell, an English teacher, there in 1978. While teaching the field course, I took students to the Cripple Creek mining district, which became a collecting focus.

When Waynesburg went fundamentalist Christian and shut down the geology major, I moved to Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, one of the 14 schools in the State System of Higher Education. While there, I taught various geology courses, including mineralogy, petrology, economic geology, hydrogeology, and structural geology. Because LHU had a very limited mineral collection, I began to collect crystals that I could use to teach crystallography. Nell and I retired to live near Florissant, CO in 2007, where I am a member (and newsletter editor) of the Lake George Gem & Mineral Club and a member of the Pueblo Rockhounds.