Larry Maloney grew up in the small Western Pennsylvania town of Kittanning. At age 14, he entered a Catholic minor seminary, with the intention of becoming a priest. After leaving the seminary in his sophomore college year, he completed his undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated maxima cum laude in 1968 with a BA degree in Communications. A few months after staring his Master's Degree work at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, he was drafted into the Army and served a year in Viet Nam where he served as an Army journalist. After military service, Maloney completed his Master's degree and began a long journalism career, primarily as a magazine writer/editor. He worked in Washington for U.S. News & World Report, where he rose to deputy editor. He is also the former editorial director of Design News.