Stern has taught at Temple University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. For a number of years prior to achieving fame, he taught at Raritan Valley Community College. For many years he taught poetry writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Stern is former faculty member and co-founder of New England College's Masters of Fine Arts Program in Poetry. Stern is currently serving as distinguished poet-in-residence at Drew University's low-residency MFA Program in Poetry beginning January 2009, with Jean Valentine, the other distinguished poet-in-residence for the program.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. to Harry and Ida Barach Stern, he was educated in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Stern earned his B.A. at the University of Pittsburgh in 1947 and an M.A. at Columbia University in 1949. He did post-graduate study at the University of Paris in 1949-50. He married Patricia Miller in 1952 (divorced); they have two children: Rachael, a nutrition therapist living in Alabama; and David, an architect living in Massachusetts. Also have 4 grandchildren, Rebecca, Dylan, Julia, and Alana. His companion is poet Anne Marie Macari, and he lives in Lambertville, New Jersey.

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