His father was born George Paul Beede, in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1908, but adopted the name of his step-father, Gervais, when he was 26 years old.
(He was directly descended in the paternal line from Elie de Bédée des Aulnais, born in Britain on the island of Jersey, of a French Protestant family of Anger and Brittany, who had fled France after the repeal of the Edict of Nantes.
He also attended San Francisco State University, where he studied poetry with Robert Creeley and Philip Lamantia.
Gervais met Gil Cohen, his husband, in 1974, and together they have lived in the United States of America at Boston, San Francisco, Point Reyes, California, New York City, and in Italy at Lucca.
Their home in Lucca, Villa Massei, which they bought in 1981, has been published in numerous books and magazines for its extraordinary garden, created by its owners, which is visited annually by thousands of garden-lovers from all over the world.