She received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Radcliffe College, a master's degree in social work from Simmons College, and a PhD in social welfare from Brandeis University.
During WWII, she and her mother fled to Paris. After the Nazis occupied that city in 1940, they traveled by bicycle to the French Riviera. After stops in Casablanca and Lisbon, they went to the United States in 1942.