He was educated in architecture at the Université de Strasbourg (1970-1972), France and studied archaeology in Athens, Greece (1972-73). As a student, he returned to the United States in 1973 and graduated from Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois in 1975. In 1978, he became the architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times until 1981; and in 1979, the editor of Inland Architect. In 1981, he relocated to Europe and lived in Italy, studying at The American Academy in Rome. In 1983, he returned to Chicago and established Metropolitan Press Ltd., a small book publishing company dedicated to architecture and design and the publisher of Metropolitan Review, the Midwest's journal of architecture and art. He also worked as a special architecture consultant to the Kennedy family, working for Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises in Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. (1983-1988). He is presently the Director and President of The Chicago Athenaeum since 1988.

He is the descendent of the Lithuanian/Russian noble families, Radziwill, Kacuiciewicz, and Jodko-Narkiewicz. In the history of the Russian Empire, this family produced many prominent politicians, generals, scientists, writer, and artists. His grandmother was Sophia Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz (Doctor from St. Petersburg) and his mother was Charlotte Gräfen Narkiewicz-Laine, founder of the Radzwill/Jodko-Narkiewicz Foundation, a private family foundation dedicated to aid sick and underprivileged children in Eastern Europe. Other prominent Lithuanian relatives include his grandmother's sister, Michelina Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz, Imperial Nurse to Czarevich Alexis Nickolaevich at Alexander Palace in Tsasrakoe Selo, and his grandmother's uncle, Piotr General Graf Narkiewicz of the Czar's Imperial Army. He is also the great nephew of Dominik Prince Radziwill (Mir, now Belarus); Jacob Graf Jodko-Narkiewicz (Russian scientist and professor of Mme. Curie from Uzda, (now Belarus); and Witold Jodko-Narkiewicz (founder of the Polish Socialist Party and the modern State of Poland, Warsaw, Poland). In the United States, he is a cousin to the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and to the late John Kennedy, Jr.

Awards: Architectural Critic's Fellowship from The Graham Foundation for the Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in 1980; "Chicago's 40 under 40 Achievers" by Crain's Chicago Business in 1991. The Goldsmith Award by the Industrial Designers Society of America, 1993.

Curated Special Exhibitions: "New Chicago Architecture" (Milan, Italy, 1988); "New Chicago Skyscapers," Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1989); "New Chicago Architecture" (Washington, D.C., 1990); "New Chicago Skyscrapers" (Warsaw, Poland, 1991); "New Chicago Skyscrapers" (Milan, 1993); "New Chicago Skyscrapers" (Prague, Czech Republic, 1994); New Chicago Skyscapers" (Budapest, Hungary, 1994); "New Chicago Skyscrapers" (Thessaloniki, Greece, 1995) "New Chicago Skyscrapers" (Kiev, Ukraine, 1995); "Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago" (Milan, Italy, 1996); "Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago" (Lisbon, Portugal, 1996); "Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago" (Design Museum, London, Great Britain, 1997); Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago(Gothenburg, Sweden, 1997); "Art to Swatch" (Chicago, 1995); "Art to Swatch" (Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, 1996); "American Architecture Awards" (Thessaloniki, Greece, 1999); GOOD DESIGN Shows (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001; and "Children of Chernobyl" (Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Madison, Wisconsin; Oslo, Norway; Buckeberg, Germany; and Thessaloniki, Greece).

Books and Publications: He has authored essays and criticisms on architecture, urbanism, and industrial design for numerous American, European, and Japanese publications. He wrote three books: Landmark Springfield (Metropolitan Arts Press, 1985); Helmut Jahn (A + U, Tokyo, Japan, 1984); and Kiki Kogelnick (1998). He has lectured at universities throughout the United States and South America. He taught architecture history and aesthetics at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1997, his first anthology of poetry, "Distant Fires" was published. Also, in 1999, "Inspiration: Nature and the Poet" (The Collected Poems of the Chicago architect, Louis H. Sullivan). "Baltic Hours" (1999) offers poetic reflections and verse from travels throughout Scandinavia and Eastern Europe and has been republished in the Scandinavian countries, Belarus, and Lithuania. His most recent books of poetry are "Greenland" (2003) and "Apocryphal Writings" (2005).

His paintings, sculpture, and photography have been exhibited in the United States and throughout Europe.