She was the daughter of Joseph Forer, an American attorney known for his progressive stances on segregation and political discrimination, and Florence Roberts, a public school teacher and viola player.
[14] In 1962, Gentleman started her career as a statistical programmer at the University of Chicago's Economics department and School of Business.
In 1965, she conducted research as an associate member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories (AT&T) in Murray Hill, New Jersey through 1968.
[citation needed] In 2002, Gentleman received the first-ever "Janet L. Norwood Award For Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Statistical Sciences.
[9] Mary E. Thompson (later, also president of the Statistical Society of Canada) has called Gentleman "a fine role model and mentor.