Seyferth was born in 1929 in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, and received his college education at the University of Buffalo. His PhD thesis dealt with main group chemistry under the mentorship of Eugene G. Rochow at Harvard.  Seyferth spent his entire academic career at , focusing initially on organophosphorus, organosilicon, and organomercury chemistry.  He also contributed to organocobalt chemistry and organoiron chemistry, e.g. the popularization of FeS(CO). He died on Saturday, June 6, 2020, due to complications from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts.
Seyferth has been widely recognized, notably with the American Chemical Society Award in Organometallic Chemistry and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.