He was professor of chemistry at Columbia University and a president of the American Society of Biological Chemists.

[1] Sherman was born in Ash Grove, Virginia.

[2] He was executive officer of the department of chemistry (1919-1939) and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science in 1929.

[2] He provided early evidence that enzymes such as amylase could consist of pure protein and pioneered quantitive studies on the physiological impact of vitamin A, B1, B2, C calcium, phosphorus, iron and protein.

They had four children: Phoebe (deceased, 1929), Henry Alvord (chemical engineer), William Bowen (medicine, deceased, 1971), and Caroline Clapp (biochemist, Mrs. Oscar E. Lanford, Jr.).