Stephen Robert Katz was born in Ware and raised in Winthrop, Mass. After graduating from Colby College, he earned his law degree from Boston University, and Masters degrees from the University of London and Columbia University. He taught law at the University of Wales, and then was a practicing attorney in Boston. Subsequently, he had a 26-year career with United Nations, serving in Vienna (Austria) and New York, as well as the former Yugoslavia. Now retired, he resides with his wife in New York City.