in 1959, malone graduated from hopkins school in new haven, connecticut. in 1963, he graduated from yale university with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and economics, where he was a phi beta kappa and national merit scholar. in 1964, malone graduated from johns hopkins university with a master's degree in industrial management. he received a master's in electrical engineering at an nyu program at bell labs in 1965 before receiving his phd in operations research at johns hopkins in 1967.