Sam Maloof was born in 1916 in the farming community of Chino, California, as the seventh of nine children. Maloof took courses in mechanical drawing and simple carpentry while in high school. He graduated 1934 and found work as a graphic artist. He then enlisted in the United States Army, serving from 1941 to 1945 in the Aleutian Islands. After the war, Maloof was employed as an assistant to Millard Sheets, the head of the art department at Scripps College in Claremont. It was there that he met his first wife, Alfreda Ward, to whom he was married for 50 years. Not satisfied with the work he was doing for Sheets, Maloof quit and started his furniture business in 1949. He was not immediately successful, but within two years his furniture and designs were being sought out by many, including major industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss. Maloof worked in the Museum of Arts and Design, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He was named an American Craft Council Gold Medalist in 1988. After Ward died, Maloof later married Beverly Wingate, and the Maloof house and grounds became listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Up until his death in 2009, Maloof could still be found in his home workshop, building beautifully functional furniture.