Gerhard Lenski was born on August 13, 1924, in Washington, D.C., to parents Gerhard Emmanuel, Sr. and Christine (Umhau) Lenski. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1945, earning the rank of sergeant. Attending Yale University, he earned his B.A. in 1947 and his Ph.D. in sociology in 1950. Upon graduation, he accepted a position first as an instructor and later as an associate professor at the University of Michigan. In 1963 he moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to become a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, chairing the Department of Sociology from 1969 to 1972. During his ten-year tenure at the University of North Carolina, he held a concurrent position as a research professor in the Institute for Research in Social Science. When he retired in 1973, he was named professor emeritus. Lenski married Jean Virginia Capplemann in 1948; they had four children.

Lenski's professional endeavors...