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.
Born on June 30, 1922, in the Bronx, New York, to Meyer Farber and Estelle Helen Shapiro Farber, Farber earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1944. He then studied for two years at Princeton University before beginning his teaching career at the Massachusetts State College.