Stan Lee was born in New York on December 28th, 1922, first child of the Lieber family. Unfortunately, Lee grew up in the 1920s, during the heart of the Great Depression. This harshly impacted the family financially. His father worked long hours to support his family. This affected Lee greatly; seeing his father struggle taught Stan Lee to work his hardest.

"I always felt sorry for my father. He was a good man, honest and caring. He wanted the best for his family, as most people do. But the times were against him. At the height of the Depression there were just no jobs to be had. Seeing the demoralizing effect that his unemployment had on his spirit, making him feel that he just wasn't needed, gave me a feeling I've never been able to shake. It's a feeling that the most important thing for a man is to have work to do, to be busy, to be needed."
~ Stan Lee, (Pg 6) Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee

During high school, Lee had many jobs to help his family. While Stan Lee jumped from job to job, a man named Martin Goodman was creating Timely Comics, a comic book company which Stan Lee would later join. He was first hired at Timely Comics by Joe Simon in 1936. At first, Lee was a minor office assistant. Later, many of the company’s workers left, including Joe Simon. He was appointed editor of Timely Comics at the age of 17. When Lee graduated high school, he decided to stay with the company.

"My first day on the job at Timely, Martin Goodman seemed surprised to see me. He sounded puzzled as he asked me. 'What are you doing here?' I didn't know if Robbie had neglected to mention that I had been interviewed and accepted by editor Joe Simon, or if Joe Simon himself had forgotten to tell him, or maybe it was Martin's was of kidding."
~ Stan Lee, (Pg 25) Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee