A. Gordon Siegel is a native and life-long resident of Staten Island N.Y., N.Y. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Education at Wagner College and a Master of Science in School Administration at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. He is a retired English teacher and dean of students, sometime columnist for a rural Catskill newspaper, certified tree farmer with the National Tree Farm System, Master Forest Owner, filmmaker (EmArt Productions Ltd), producer of "Once Upon a Time on Staten Island", "Staten Island Then and Now", No Requiem for Mt. Manresa", "Parcelizing the Catskills and the Boiled Frog Syndrome" and four more film titles about World War II and the Holocaust. The author currently resides on Staten Island with his wife and dedicates much of his spare time to improving timber stands on his tree farm in the western Catskills.