and Inwood, Manhattan. He had a sister, Edith Sherin Markson, who was among the founders of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

When he was 16 years old, Sherin dropped out of DeWitt Clinton High School and traveled to West Texas, where he worked on a cattle ranch. He eventually resumed his education at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, graduating in 1948. In 1952, he graduated