He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Russian parents. At 13 years old he went to Chicago to join the World's Fair. After the fair he toured with a carnival for a while. By the age of 18, in the Summer of '37, he was peddling magazine subscriptions in Oklahoma and Texas clearing about $15,000 in 9 months. He put himself through Marquette University majoring in philosophy and working for the Milwaukee Sentinel. He was working for the American Vacation Association when he first arrived in New Orleans on the night of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. His boss advised him that the war would not last more than a few months and to stick around an make some contacts. Borenstein never left.