Eiichi Negishi was born on 14 July 1935 in Hsinking, Manchukuo, China [now Changchun, China]. He was married to Sumire Suzuki. He died on 6 June 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
He received a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Tokyo, and earned a Fulbright scholarship to study chemistry in the United States. He received a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent most of his career teaching and carrying out research at Purdue University.