Bill Salamon was born in 1927 a gifted, natural artist who took up drawing and painting from the time he could hold a pencil. He spent any spare money he was given to buy art supplies instead of candy or toys. Salamon happily created his pieces, innocent of the drastic circumstances he and his family would soon face.

At the age of 16, Salamon was taken prisoner in 1944 with his family and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp (and later survived a death march to Dachau); more than 20 of his family members perished in the Holocaust, including both of his parents. Salamon’s artistic talents literally kept him from death as he survived by painting on the orders of the Nazi SS officers: he would paint signs, murals and gift items for the Nazi guards and their families.

After the war, Chicago's Jewish community sponsored Salamon. He enrolled in a class to learn English and attended the prestigious Art Institute. Salamon was then drafted into the U.S. army, but spent the Korean War stationed in Washington, D.C., designing and illustrating manuals for military intelligence. Salamon then moved to Southern California and enrolling in Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal Arts), was married, and began raising a family.

Salamon painted with freedom and flourish, with quick, sure and expressive strokes. As the paint would fly around him, observers stood back in fascination to see him create vivid landscapes, seascapes, florals, nature scenes and portraits emanating love and light. He believed creating art was the ideal release from difficulty, a way of celebrating life, and a means of expressing gratitude.

During his lifetime, Salamon won hundreds of awards, from Grumbacher to Windsor Newton to City Purchases, as well as many Bests of Show and county fair awards. His work was featured in several galleries and he was featured in numerous newspapers and on radio and television, telling the inspirational story of his life. This was also documented for posterity by Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

Salamon was, and remains, a role model of forgiveness and the triumph of the human spirit. He passed in 2011 at the age of 84.