[1] Born in Lindsay, Ontario, Lacey studied French and German at the University of Toronto[2] before moving to Texas to pursue an M.A.
[3] Throughout his career he worked as a translator and taught literature and English as a second language in Mexico, Trinidad, Brazil, Greece and Thailand, including a stint as a private tutor to former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek.
[3] He published translations into English from French, Spanish, and Portuguese, including The Delight of Hearts, or What You Will Not Find in Any Book, a 1988 publication of the poetry of Ahmad al-Tifashi.
While working in Thailand, Lacey suffered life-threatening injuries in 1991 when he passed out drunk in a street in Bangkok and was run over by a vehicle.
[3] He was transported back to Canada, where he remained largely bedridden in a rooming house in Toronto until his death in 1995.