Sam Provenzano (1923-1933) Samuel Paul Provenzano was born in the small Pennsylvania mining town of Luciusboro on Sept. 26, 1923, the second youngest of 10 children of a coal miner. When Sam was 3, his father was badly injured in a mining accident and the family moved to Rochester, N.Y., to live with an aunt.

Mr. Provenzano showed an early talent for drawing and painting, said his daughter, Katherine Provenzano Hoover. He was teased for his pastime by his brothers and often felt like the black sheep of his family, she said, but his mother and teachers encouraged him and he won a scholarship to Syracuse University.

During World War II, Mr. Provenzano served in Air Corps in the Pacific. Upon his return, he earned a bachelor of fine arts from Syracuse University on the GI Bill and went on to study art in Florence, Paris and Mexico City, and with Hoffman at his Provincetown school.

His work is included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the University Art Museum, the Museo ItaloAmericano, the Oakland Museum and the Rochester, N.Y., Museum Memorial Art Gallery.