Justin L. Kestenbaum was born in 1925 in New York City, New York. Kestenbaum graduated high school in 1943. He joined the U.S. Army and served in the Pacific. After the war, he studied history at the University of Illinois and received his B.A. in 1952.

With the help of the G.I. Bill and a William Randolph Hearst Fellowship, Kestenbaum pursued graduate work (M.A. 1954; Ph.D. 1963) in American history at Northwestern University. He taught high school in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois and college courses at Northwestern, Roosevelt University and Wright Junior College in Illinois.

In 1963, Kestenbaum accepted a faculty position at Michigan State University where he worked for the rest of his life. Kestenbaum has published a number of books including "Out of the Wilderness: An Illustrated History of Greater Lansing" and "At the Campus Gate: A History of East Lansing." Kestenbaum died in 1995.