Born to an American Jewish family in Springfield, Massachusetts, Ernest Becker fought in World War II and was stationed in Germany, where he personally saw one of the Nazi death camps. After the war ended, Becker worked toward a PhD in cultural anthropology at Syracuse University in New York. His first book, based on his doctoral dissertation, was published in 1961 as Zen: A Rational Critique.

He taught courses in anthropology and psychology at various universities, including UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Simon Fraser University. His next books, The Birth and Death of Meaning (1962) and The Revolution in Psychiatry (1964), laid out several ideas about the importance of symbols for humans and the causes of mental illness that Becker would further explore in The Denial of Death.

No doubt influenced by his diagnosis of terminal cancer, Becker wrote The Denial of Death, publishing it in 1973. It was his most influential book by far, earning him a Pulitzer Prize that was awarded after his death. In 1993, the physician Dr. Neil Elgee founded the Ernest Becker Foundation, which is dedicated to putting Becker’s theories from The Denial of Death into practice in promoting non-violence, conflict resolution, public health, and better ways of dealing with death.