Ira Blei was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where he attended public schools and graduated from Brooklyn College with B.S. and M.A. degrees in chemistry. After receiving Ph.D. degrees in physical biochemistry from Rutgers University, he worked for Lever Brothers Company in New Jersey, studying the effects of surface-active agents on skin. His next position was a Melpar Incorporated, in Virginia, where he founded a biophysics group that researched methods for the detection of terrestrial and extraterrestrial microorganisms. In 1967, Ira joined the faculty of the College of Staten Island, City University of New York, and taught chemistry and biology there for three decades. His research has appeared in the Journal of Colloid Science, the Journal of Physical Chemistry, and the Archives of Biophysical and Biochemical Science. He has two sons, one an engineer working in Berkeley, California, and the other a musician who lives and works in San Francisco. Ira is outdoors whenever possible, overturning dead branches to see what lurks beneath or scanning the trees with binoculars in search of new bird life, and has recently served as president of Staten island’s local Natural History Club.