Norman was born in Yonkers, New York. After graduating from Hackley School he attended Harvard University earning a B.A degree. He received his postgraduate medical training in Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, MN, and subsequent training in allergy at Wilford Hall U.S.A.F. Hospital. He retired after twenty years and then joined the Southern California Permanente Medical Group where he practiced allergy for twenty years until retirement in July 1998.