Irving Shain was born in Seattle, Washington on January 2, 1926. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943-1946, then received a B.S. (1949) and Ph.D. (1952), both in chemistry, from the University of Washington. He began teaching in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1952 and chaired the department from 1967-1970. Shain served as vice chancellor of the Madison campus from 1970-1975 then went to his alma mater as provost and vice president for academic affairs from 1975-1977 before returning to Wisconsin, where he became chancellor in November of 1977. The University Research Park was established during his administration, and he began student exchange programs with the People's Republic of China. After his retirement from UW-Madison at the end of 1986, Shain joined the Olin Corporation as corporate vice president and chief scientist and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1992.
