Frank R. VillafaNa was born in Havana, Cuba in 1941. He left Cuba in 1960 and went to the University of Alabama, where he obtained his BS and MS in engineering. He worked with Ethyl and Avery Dennison Corporations in the US, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He earned a doctor of engineering degree from Cleveland State University. Now living in the US, he continues to research and write about Cuban history.