Luís Manuel Pita São Bento was born in Ponte de Sor on August 3, 1955. He holds a degree in History from the State University of Voronej (former USSR), whose diploma was duly recognised by the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon.
He began his professional activity as archivist in August 1973 at the Archives of the Tax Services Department of the Directorate-General for Land Transport. From March 1988, he was assigned to the Documentation and Information Services of the same entity, where he held the position of senior library and documentation technician.
For some years, he worked as part-time teacher, translator and interpreter of Russian language.
In April 2001, he was transferred to the staff of Horta Public Library and Regional Archives. He was appointed director of this institution, a position he still holds today.