Tenzer grew up in his native New York City until age 12, when his family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he graduated from Central High School in 1949.
Bridgeport was a booming industrial town during World War II; observing its social and economic life and comparing it to that of New York may have been the source of his lifelong interest in the workings of cities.
He then spent a year working for the United States Civil Service Commission (a federal agency) in New York City, where he learned much about government administration.
[3] In 1966 he was involved in helping the incoming administration of New York Mayor John Lindsay to consolidate some twenty-five city human welfare agencies down to ten.
Because of his experience advising on real issues of governmental organization and policy, he was recruited by two of his former professors to return to UConn to teach political science.
In addition to academic activities, Tenzer continued his consulting work and traveled overseas, helping to assess and shape policy for USAID in the Philippines; for USIS in Sri Lanka; and for local governments in the former Soviet Union, through a project of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (Brussels).
On his retirement, he established the Tenzer Fellowship Fund at UConn’s MPA program, which provides support each year to an incoming student selected for academic excellence.