Moose M. Scheib was born in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, the son of a newspaper editor and government official. His family immigrated to the U.S. (Toledo, Ohio) when he was seven years old and eventually settled in Dearborn, Michigan. When Scheib was twelve, his father – who sought work as a truck driver to keep the family afloat – suffered the first in a series of strokes. As a result, his mother began work at a metro-Detroit restaurant and Scheib began working and caring for his ill father and siblings.