Farber was born in the Bronx, New York on June 30, 1922, to Meyer Farber and Estelle Helen Shapiro Farber. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in 1944 and attended Princeton University for two years before leaving to teach at the Massachusetts State College.
Farber was born in the Bronx, New York on June 30, 1922, to Meyer Farber and Estelle Helen Shapiro Farber. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1944 and studied for two years at Princeton University before teaching at the Massachusetts State College.