 Born in York County, Ontario in 1920, Roy was first published at the age of 14 in the school newspaper at Runnymede Collegiate in Toronto.His father was an athlete and Chief of Police in Swansea, where Roy explored the community between High Park and the Humber River, observing the differences between life as lived and as perceived and recorded.He said his first drawing instruction came from an architectural student who, courting Roy's older sister, needed to keep the youngster occupied with something else.