[1] His father was Hollywood actor Guy Kibbee and his mother was Helen Shay Kibbee; his parents separated when he was a young boy.
[2][3][4] He attended Xavier High School in Manhattan, New York, and earned a bachelor's degree at Fordham University in 1943.
[1][2][4] After serving in World War II in the Philippines from 1940 to 1945, Kibbee earned a master's degree in higher education administration from the University of Chicago in 1947, and a doctorate there in 1957.
[5][2] From 1958 to 1961 he worked for the University of Chicago as an educational advisor in Pakistan.
[3] Kibbee had cranial surgery to remove a tumor, and died on June 16, 1982, two weeks before his scheduled retirement, at 60 years of age.