 He received a bachelor's degree from the Cooper Union in 1942 and, after four years of service in the United States Army, earned a master's degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1947, where he taught from 1948 until 1957.After this, Klamkin worked at AVCO, taught at SUNY Buffalo (1962–1964), and served as the principal research scientist at Ford Motor Company (1965–1976).During this period, he was also a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota.