 He was married to the quilt artist Dinah Prentice and since 1990 had lived and worked in Malvern, Worcestershire.Prentice was born in Solihull and educated at Moseley Road Secondary School of Art, Birmingham between 1949 and 1952, and Birmingham School of Art between 1952 and 1957.In 1957 he did National Service in the Royal Artillery, returning to the Birmingham School of Art to teach from 1959.