His Polish military great-grandfather and ancestors of African descent fought for Haiti's Independence, and his Dutch grandfather moved to Cap Haitian from Suriname in the late 1800s.
At the age of ten he was exposed to Le Centre D'Art artists in Port-au-Prince prior to moving to Montreal, Canada with his family, upon his father's acceptance of an oral surgeon post.
He accepted a position working in the architectural atelier of Bernard Zehrfuss, Marcel Breuer, and Pier Luigi Nervi on the CNIT (Centre des Nouvelles Industries et Technologies) building in Paris La Défense, a development project, and drew in his spare time.
He turned it down, and instead married Rona Roy in Dothan, Alabama and returned to Haiti to start his architectural practice, beginning with the construction of the tower at Hôtel Castelhaïti.
Like the rest of the Caribbean, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the American Virgin Islands were all inhabited by the Arawaks / Taínos, Carib indigenous people, and Africans.
He immersed himself in his architecture career and additionally supported himself and his growing family by painting and exhibiting in galleries from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West, and then to Christiansted and Charlotte Amalie.
[2][1] In 1972, he moved back to Haiti under improved political conditions, where he later developed a mountain village "Baron Bonheur" in Kenscoff, designed chairs including "La Dolce Vita" earning him patents, and continued painting and sculpting.
He related his mystical experiences of Synchronicity to Sigmund Freud, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Carl Jung and others, which he read extensively, and the symbols in his art are meant to transcend both time and place.
In the mid 1970's he wrote an article in the Le Nouvelliste entitled "Haiti en L'An 2000" where he stressed the importance of infrastructure reform and environmental sensitivity amid population growth.
[2] He also allowed the public to participate in "Materia Viva" a museum installation making stoves using discarded tires, fueling them with fallen twigs instead of chopped trees used for firewood or charcoal.