Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Kathi Kamen was born in Brooklyn, New York, the first child of Betty and Seymour Kamen, and raised in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Her parents were photographers who later became educators and writers in the field of health and nutrition. She has two brothers: Paul, a naval architect and writer, and Michael, a college professor. Kathi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1971, a master's degree from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont in 1974, and a California teaching credential in 1974.