Newman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1932 and a Juris Doctor from Washington University in St. Louis in 1935.

The following year, he was hired by Edison Brothers Stores, a retail shoe chain founded by his wife's family.

Newman and other students were given the use of Green's private radio station at Round Hill, Massachusetts, to follow Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition (1928–1930).

[4] Newman's favorite coin, however, was a unique 1792 pattern in gold that is believed to have been presented to George Washington and carried in his pocket.

[11] In a 1977 article in The Numismatist, Newman shed light on previously unrecognized contributions of Robert Morris, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a major financial backer during the American Revolutionary War.

According to Newman's New York Times obituary, after the United States gained its independence, the wealthy Morris sustained the government of the young nation during a "grave fiscal crisis" by issuing "vast quantities of notes in denominations from $20 to $100" backed by his own personal credit.

[1] In 2010, he and Robert M. Peck, a curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, reported their discovery of an 1824 $3 New Jersey banknote bearing the image of a heath hen.

The Newmans supported a variety of philanthropic efforts including medical research, academia, and St. Louis cultural affairs.