Early Life
Mumford was born in Worth, West Sussex in England, of an English father and American mother. His father William started an experimental school in Tanzania and worked for the then newly created United Nations.
In high school, he was a finalist in the prestigious Westinghouse Science Talent Search. After attending the Phillips Exeter Academy, Mumford went to Harvard, where he became a student of Oscar Zariski. At Harvard, he became a Putnam fellow in 1955 and 1956. He completed his Ph.D. in 1961, with a thesis entitled Existence of the moduli scheme for curves of any genus.
He met his first wife, Erika Jentsch, at Radcliffe College. After Erika died in 1988, he married his second wife, Jenifer Gordon.
He and Erika had four children. Steve (born 1960) is a published artist residing in New York City, Peter (born 1962) is a professional photographer and web developer living in Seattle, Jeremy (born 1969) is a historian, while Suchitra (born 1970, now Suchitra Baranoff) has worked for more than fifteen years in the field of international adoption.
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