Gerard Fortune was born in 1925 and started to paint in 1978. He is a houngan, pastry chef, and painter whose art talent flourished with the recognition of his talent by the author Selden Rodman in his book " Where Art Is Joy". His work has been internationally exhibited and belongs to the permanent collection of the Waterloo Museum of Art in Iowa and the Ramapo College in New Jersey. Gerard passed away in 2019.