Rosemary Bracco Greenbaum Kohler

Rosemary Bracco Greenbaum Kohler was born in a castle in northern Italy near the French border. The historic building was owned by her grandfather. She attended preschool at age two and began painting in watercolors at age three under the guidance of the Mother Superior. At nine, she wrote and illustrated her first book, which won one of the top ten prizes in a nationwide Italian contest.

After arriving in the United States, Greenbaum continued her education with private art lessons and graduated from a four-year dress-design program at Washington Irving Art School in New York City. She worked as a pen-and-ink artist for Fleischer and Disney Studios on films featuring Betty Boop, Little Lulu, Popeye, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She later led and taught at her private art studio for thirty-five years.

Her first published book, A Life of Mosaics: A Photo Album/Autobiography, traces four generations of her family. Her second, The Sins of Castel du Mont, draws upon the folklore of the castle where she was born. Despite developing macular degeneration and hearing loss later in life, she continued writing, creating art, lecturing, and embracing new challenges.