Roy C. Craven Jr. was an artist who used the mediums of painting, sculpture, and photography. He was an associate professor of art at the University of Florida when he was appointed as acting director of the University of Florida new Gallery in September 1964. Craven also was an author of about a dozen books on the subjects of the art of India and Mayan ceremonial sites as well as exhibit catalogs. From 1962-63 he was in India as a senior research scholar under the Fulbright Program.