Green was born in Stockton on Tees on 14 May 1925. He served with the Royal Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946. In 1948 he married Doreen Spark (died 2006), with whom he had a son and two daughters. He qualified as an accountant in 1950."Sir Owen Green", obituary in The Daily Telegraph, 29 June 2017, p. 31.
