Born in Detroit, Michigan, he dropped out of school in ninth grade, having to work from the time he was 13 to support his family.
[1] In 1938, Lederer married Esther "Eppie" Pauline Friedman in a Jewish ceremony in Sioux City, Iowa.
[3] According to his New York Times obituary of January 23, 1999, Lederer was selling hats at T. S. Martin Department Store in Sioux City, Iowa, when he met Friedman, who was engaged to another man; she and her identical twin sister Pauline Esther "Popo" were shopping for bridal veils for their double wedding.
The two sisters would eventually become the writers of the widely syndicated advice columns, Ask Ann Landers and Dear Abby, respectively.
[1] Married for 36 years, when the Lederers were divorced, Ann Landers described it in her next column as "one of the best marriages that didn't make it to the finish line.