Marvin Carmack was born in 1913 near Dana, Vermillion County, Indiana, U.S.A., and attended public schools there. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1937 with A.B. Honors in Chemistry. During 1937–40 he earned the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Michigan, working with Professor Werner E. Bachmann on the synthesis of substituted benzopyrene compounds as potential carcinogens. At Michigan he carried out his first experiments with the Willgerodt Reaction, which remained one continuing subject of his interest for the next fifty years-an interest that broadened to include many aspects of sulfur chemistry.