Norton Mezvinsky is from a well-known Iowa family long involved in Jewish politics. His father, Abe, was for decades a grocer and leading businessman in Ames, Iowa, and was famous for his philanthropy. Norton studied history at Wisconsin University under George Mosse, Howard K. Beale, and William Appleman Williams. At the same time, he corresponded with rabbi Elmer Berger, with whom he was to work and come very close to. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1960, while working on a sociological study on American Jewish Self-Segregation which the American Council for Judaism had commissioned. Mezvinsky also did post-doctoral studies at Harvard University.