Biographical Information

The second of three sons, I was raised by a fine artist and a clothing retailer in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts.  I graduated Brookline High School, where I received a freshman letter in football, junior varsity and varsity letters in tennis, and was appointed the student director of the concert choir.

 The next ten years was spent at Boston University obtaining the following degrees: a bachelor’s in geography and sociology, a master’s in communications with a major in public relations, and a doctorate in sociology with a subspecialty in criminology.  During my undergraduate years, I won awards in physics and geography.

After basic training and supply training in the U.S. Army in Louisiana and Texas, I spent six years in Boston in the Army Reserves as a supply sergeant for a dental detachment. 

During my university studies, I taught part time in public relations and sociology at Boston University, and then part time teaching criminology to the Massachusetts State Police under the auspices of Northeastern University.

A year before I received my doctorate, I was an instructor of sociology and geography, and the director of the criminal justice program, for the University of Maine at Presque Isle.  During the next four years as an assistant professor of sociology at Bridgewater State College, I was awarded the Massachusetts State College Teacher of the Year.  I also wrote and directed two grants to teach gerontology to social workers, and as the founder of the International Social Gerontology Center, I directed a program in international social gerontology at the Institute of Postgraduate Studies of Zagreb University in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (now Croatia).

I left teaching to move to Florida to learn how to run Edna Hibel Corp., a company devoted to publishing my mother’s art, and to adapting her images to gifts and collectibles.  Twenty-five years later, I am the company’s CEO.  I am also a trustee of the Hibel Museum of Art, the world’s only non-profit, public museum dedicated to the art of a living American woman.

Currently living in Palm Beach County, I am 58 and have been happily married for 36 years (OK, so I had to say that because my wife’s my webmaster).  I have two great children--now young adults--and until last year, had a miniature poodle for 14 years.

with wife Cheryll Rabin Plotkin