Dobbs was born in 1918 in Roselle, New Jersey, to George Dobbs and Mary Dobbs (née Wolin), both Russian Jews who had emigrated to the United States in the early twentieth century. He attended Roselle's Jefferson High School for one year before his family moved to San Diego in 1934, in search of work for Dobbs' father George, who was a carpenter. Dobbs finished high school at San Diego High School and then attended San Diego State College for two years, becoming the first member of his family to attend college.
