Ordway Tead was born in Sommerville, Massachusetts. In 1912, he graduated from Amherst College. He went to work for Valentine, Tead & Gregg. In 1915, he married Clara Murohy, the president of Briarcliff College. In 1917, he moved to New York City to work in the Bureau of Industrial Research. During World War I, he ran the War Department's employment management course at Columbia University. After the war, he remained at Columbia as adjunct professor of industrial relations until 1956. He was involved in book publishing both at McGraw Hill and Harper & Row and wrote 21 books himself.
