Joseph Rotenberg was born in New York City in 1949 and grew up on the Upper West Side with his Antwerp-born father and Brooklyn-born mother. He received his BA (cum laude, phi beta kappa) from Columbia College and two law degrees from New York University Law School. He practiced tax law in New York and New Jersey for six years, following which he entered the investment advisory business. He is currently a senior vice president with a financial firm in Paramus, New Jersey. He has five children and nine grandchildren. He and his wife Barbara have been members of Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, New Jersey, for the last twenty years.