He was born in Dubăsari, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Moldova), to Jewish parents, and emigrated to the United States in 1914.
Raised in Philadelphia, Filler attended Central High School.
He taught at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, first as professor of American civilization from 1953 until 1976, and then as Distinguished University Professor of American Culture and Society, beginning in 1976.
His scholarly writings focused on muckrakers, abolition, and other reform movements.
He lived in Ovid, Michigan[1] and died on December 22, 1998, in Austin, Texas.