donald collier was born in sparkill, new york to lucy wood collier and john collier, sr. his family moved to the san francisco bay area in the early 1920s. he received his undergraduate degree from the university of california, berkeley in 1933 and completed his ph.d. in anthropology at the university of chicago in 1954. several of collier’s family members had very noteworthy careers. his grandfather, charles collier (1848-1900), was a prominent banker and lawyer in atlanta and was elected mayor of that city in 1897. his father john collier, sr. (1884-1968) was commissioner for the bureau of indian affairs during the presidency of franklin d. roosevelt. his brother john collier, jr. (1913-1992) is considered a pioneer in the field of visual anthropology and was also an accomplished photographer. collier’s brother-in-law rene d'harnoncourt (1901-1968) was the director of the museum of modern art from 1949 to 1967 and was the first chairman of the indian arts and crafts board. collier married malcolm carr collier (1908-1983) who was also an anthropologist and author. the primary focus of her work was with the navajo and she served as the director of the curriculum study project of the american anthropological association. she and donald collier had two sons, bruce collier and political scientist david collier.