[1] Grossinger was born and raised in New York City, attended Horace Mann School, Amherst College, and the University of Michigan, earning a B.A.
[2][3] Between 1970 and 1972 he taught anthropology at the University of Maine, Portland-Gorham, now the University of Southern Maine, and between 1972 and 1977 he taught interdisciplinary studies (including alchemy, Melville, Classical Greek, Jungian psychology, and ethnoastronomy) at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
[2] An ethnographer and self-described psycho-spiritual explorer, as well as a writer and publisher, he has latterly studied a range of alternative medicines.
[5] His daughter is filmmaker, author and performance artist, Miranda July.
His son is Robin Grossinger, an author and Senior Scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute.