Stephen Robert Katz was born in Ware and raised in Winthrop, Massachusetts, a seaside community adjacent to Boston. After graduating from Colby College, he earned his law degree from Boston University, and Masters degrees from the University of London and Columbia University. He taught law at the University of Wales, and then was a practicing attorney in Boston. Subsequently, he had a 26-year career with United Nations, serving in Vienna (Austria) and New York, as well as in the former Yugoslavia.

Now retired, he resides with his wife in New York City.

He is a member of the Ware Historical Society,  the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.