Violinist Albert Ivan Stern was born in New York City. His parents, father Murray Abraham Shmulevitch and mother Grace Sara Stern (née Gold), were both Jewish and born in Poland. Grace Gold immigrated to the US as a child and Murray immigrated later after graduating from Humboldt University of Berlin as a Doctor of medicine. After arriving in the US, Murray entered a lifelong career in business sales and, following in the footsteps of his father, became a prominent builder. Both his mother and father came from families of predominantly musicians. He had an older brother Stanley Stern (later known as Jack Stern) and an older sister Florence London. Stern has 4 children, daughters Adina T. Stern, a prominent attorney, Aura L. Stern, a financier, daughter Shereen A. Stern, a nurse, and son Sh