Morton Rothstein was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1922. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of British Columbia (1946) and both an M.S. (1947) and Ph.D. (1949) in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois (Urbana). In 1965, he joined the faculty of the University at Buffalo's Department of Biology and from 1969-1970 served as the department's chair.