LeRoy Neiman: A Chronicler of the American Spirit LeRoy Neiman, born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on June 8, 1921, into a family profoundly shaped by hardship and resilience, emerged as one of the most distinctive portraitists of his era. His early life, marked by his father’s abandonment and subsequent adoption of the surname Neiman, instilled within him a keen observational eye and an enduring fascination with the lives of ordinary people—particularly those engaged in pursuits of pleasure, power, and passion. Growing up in Frog Town, a working-class neighborhood known for its gritty authenti…