 In 1923, Wallerstein family emigrated to New York, where his brother Immanuel was born.Robert S. Wallerstein was born in Germany, but at the "List of alien passengers for the United States" at the time of his family's emigration, his nationality was described as Polish.Wallerstein was raised in The Bronx, then moved to Topeka, Kansas in 1949 and to Belvedere, California in 1966, where he died on December 21, 2014.