Claude A. Simard was born in Québec City on July 9, 1943. From 1962 to 1966, he studied visual communication and in art at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. He lived in France and Switzerland in 1969, and in Germany and Denmark in 1971. Claude A. Simard became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1983. He passed away on September 15, 2014.