 One of five children, Carroll Dozier was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Curtis Merry and Rosa Ann (née Conaty) Dozier.After graduating from Benedictine High School in Richmond in 1928, he attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1932.He then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University, there earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology.