He was born on November 12, 1946, in Columbus, Ohio.
He attended several universities during his lifetime, which all helped to shape Stan Sobel as a person. He was especially happy to have attended the Ohio State University, where he studied science and how to root for the defeat of U of Michigan’s football teams. He attended Rio Grande University, where he learned leadership skills and the essentials of teaching. At Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, and Arizona State U., Phoenix, he learned and worked with isolating DNA and then relating that work to altering genetics. He also attended Ohio University, where he not only took classes to extend his teaching credentials but also met up with the William Bartels family, which became his second family.