Harold F. Linder was born to a Jewish family[2] in Brooklyn on September 13, 1900, the son of May L.
[5] In the 1930s, Linder worked as an investment banker at Loeb, Rhoades & Co. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy.
Linder was elected chairman of the board of trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in 1969.
There is an endowed chair at the Institute for Advanced Study named in Linder's honor.
He died at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan's Upper East Side on June 22, 1981, at the age of 80.