Robert Morello, the author, of this book was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1956. His parents moved to Selden, Long Island when Bob was five. Bob recalls with joy, the sleepy summers spent growing up on Long Island in the 1960’s. A ride to Port Jeff, to stroll on the docks, or catch a ferry to Bridgeport, was always a very special event.
After his high school graduation, Bob attended the State University at Farmingdale. After this he moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design. Bob began his career as a graphic artist and illustrator, specializing in science fiction art slated for comic books and magazines. Bob met Bernadette his future wife at a midtown design studio in 1978. After a three-month cross-country camping trip in 1980, they settled down in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where their first son Jonathan was born. They soon opened Griffin Graphics, a design studio on 38th street between Madison and 5th avenue in Manhattan. Bob was hired by Universal Studios & 20th Century Fox to develop concepts for feature films, so Bob and family were again on the move to Los Angeles, California. It was there son Julian was born.
In 1996 Bob, Bernadette, Jonathan and Julian moved to Port Jefferson, into the historic Richard Mather house. This house is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bob digitally restored hundreds of vintage photos of Port Jefferson, and in 2001 he created an online library called The Archive. Visitors to the web site could view and purchase copies of photos online. The Archive web site is no longer active, however it served as a model for the Port Jefferson Village Digital Archivehttp://portjeff.com/village-history/
Active in community affairs, Bob and Bernadette served on the steering committee that helped the architects design the Port Jefferson Village Center at Harborfront Park. The design feature of a balcony was championed by Bob's wife during the design meetings, and as such they refer to it as Bernadette's Balcony to this day.