Passent studied journalism at the University of Warsaw, Saint Petersburg State University, Princeton University, and Harvard University in the 1950s and 1960s. He first wrote for a communist youth magazine "Sztandar Młodych" in his sophomore year at the University of Warsaw in 1956. In college, he wrote satirical texts for a student standup comedy group "Studencki Teatr Satyryków" (STS). There he met his wife, Agnieszka Osiecka, a Polish poet and lyricist. Their daughter, Agata Passent, is also a journalist. Since 1959 he has been working for a Polish weekly "Polityka". From 1990 to 1997 he was a journalist in Boston for a Spanish monthly magazine "El Diario Mundial". From 1997 to 2002 Passent served as a Polish ambassador to Chile.