Oliver was born in Caruthersville, Missouri before moving to St. Louis aged two when his father, a lawyer, was appointed a United States district attorney there.
Whilst in graduate school, Oliver went on two expeditions to south Mexico to bring back reptiles for the University of Michigan's museum of zoology, where he was an assistant.
Oliver taught for a year, 1941–1942, as an instructor at the Northern Michigan College of Education in Marquette, before moving to New York City and becoming assistant curator in the herpetology department at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).
[1] During World War II, Oliver took a leave of absence from the museum and served in the Navy as a communications officer aboard a destroyer from 1943 to 1946.
During the war, when time permitted, Oliver studied and collected reptiles and amphibians; one of his observations being a record number of sea turtles, seen from his vessel, off the coast of Mexico.
He "pickled" specimens in his quarters and collected wall lizards in Malta, chameleons in Africa, frogs in Trinidad and sea snakes at Okinawa.
He designed glass-fronted exhibits and created an environment that displayed reptiles and amphibians in surroundings that closely as possible simulated nature.
This organization was devoted mainly to saving the endangered green sea turtle but was also interested in preserving the Caribbean environment.
"[1] In 1970, Oliver was appointed environmental consultant to the New York City Administration of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
Amongst his many achievements as a herpetologist at the zoo, his greatest is said to have been the recording of the first detailed observations and photographs of king cobras breeding in captivity.