Samuel Salko was born in Russia and studied in art schools there, but left as quite a young man, arriving in Seattle by way of China and the Far East. He worked in different trades there, came to Philadelphia where he was naturalized as a citizen of the U.S.A and won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. During the last war he worked as artist illustrator at the Frankford Arsenal and received a certificate from the War Department for his praiseworthy contribution to the war effort.