Born in New York City, Herman D. Stein (1917-2009) was an educator, scholar, university administrator, and leader in a variety of professional associations. He studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary for four years, and then received a bachelor's degree in social science from the College of the City of New York in 1939. After earning both his master's and doctoral degrees at Columbia University, Stein taught at the Columbia University School of Social Work for fourteen years. He later was a professor at Smith College School of Social Work, Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Hawaii, and several other universities in the United States and around the world. Stein moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964 to become Dean of School of Applied Social Sciences at Western Reserve University. He was named university provost in 1969 and vice president in 1970. Stein published extensively in his field. He was the author of several books and more than a hundred journal articles mainly in the fields of social work practice, social administration, international social work, and social work education.
Stein served as a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of UNICEF for more than twenty years and was President of both the International Association of Schools of Social Work and the Council on Social Work Education. Stein was also an active contributor to the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, the Institute for Jewish Life, the Jewish Community Center, the Jewish Community Federation, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, the Jewish Welfare Board, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.