Stearns was born in a Jewish family in 1888 to Virginia (née Michaels) and Isaac, founder of Stern's Department Stores.
[1] He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover in 1906 and Yale University in 1910.
[1][2] He may have changed his name when he enrolled at Andover, whose headmaster at the time was Alfred Stearns.
After working some years in Europe, Stearns worked at the brokerage J.J. Danzig & Co. before founding Bear Stearns with partners Joseph Ainslie Bear and Harold C. Mayer in 1923.
Stearns died at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan on 14 December 1954, aged 66.