His father, William Fadiman, was a producer, story editor,[1][2] and book reviewer in Hollywood,[3] one of his credits being The Last Frontier.
[11] While in Paris in 1961, his friend and former Harvard undergraduate adviser Ram Dass (then known as Richard Alpert) introduced him to psilocybin.
[12][15][16][17] While living in Menlo Park, Fadiman and his wife were Ken Kesey's Perry Lane neighbors and friends.
[17] He was also part of the team in the psychedelics in problem-solving experiment at the International Foundation for Advanced Study, which was abruptly halted in 1966.
[3] His brother, Jeffrey A. Fadiman, is a professor of international marketing at San José State University and a language and area specialist of Eastern and Southern Africa, with published work on the Meru tribe of Mount Kenya.