Ted Lewin was born in
Buffalo, New York on May 6, 1935. He has one sister and two brothers,
Donn and
Mark, who were both
professional wrestlers. Lewin grew up in a household with exotic pets, including an
iguana, a
rhesus monkey, a
chimpanzee, and a
lion, During his youth, Lewin developed a drawing hobby by sketching his pets and copying works of established illustrators and painters that interested him. He refined his art talents at
Lafayette High School, and graduated in 1952. He earned a
BFA degree in 1956 from
Pratt Institute of Art in
Brooklyn, where he met his wife,
Betsy Reilly.
Wrestling To finance his education at Pratt, Lewin pursued a part-time career as a teenage professional
wrestler alongside his brothers. His wrestling career lasted for 26 years, and was the basis of his 1993 memoir
I Was a Teenaged Professional Wrestler. In 2006,
One Green Apple, illustrated by Lewin and written by
Eve Bunting, won the inaugural
Arab American Book Award for books written for Children/Young Adults.
One Green Apple tells the story of a young girl who has just immigrated to America from an Arab country and her discovery that her differences are what makes her special. ==Exhibits==