Vincent Philip Carosso earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught at San Jose State College and Carnegie-Mellon University before moving to New York in 1957 to accept dual appointments at both Columbia and New York Universities. He became a full professor of history at N.Y.U. in 1962 and was William R. Kenan Jr. Professor from 1976 until his retirement in 1990.