Born in Pittsburgh in 1934, Harvey Breverman went to Carnegie-Mellon University where he received his B.F.A. in 1956. From 1956 to 1958 Breverman served with Army Special Services in Korea, and in 1960 he earned an M.F.A. from Ohio University. The following year he moved to Buffalo with his wife Deborah, a long-time teacher in the Amherst Central school district. The move was prompted by a position Breverman was offered at the University of Buffalo, and he has been teaching art there ever since. 

Though he has a good many acquaintances and colleagues in the art world, Breverman is not linked to any particular group, nor does he seem to want to be. The distance he keeps, however, is not kept out of scorn. The lens Breverman sees himself through is very exact - he is as an artist - and what better commune is there to engage in for such an individual than oneself?

In 1999, Breverman was appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor of Art by the State University of New York Board of Trustees.