Maher was born in New York City, the son of Julie (née Berman), a nurse, and William Maher, Sr., a network news editor and radio announcer. He was raised in his Irish American father’s Catholic religion, remaining unaware that his mother was Jewish until his early teenage years. He subsequently has self-identified as ethnically half-Jewish. Maher’s family stopped attending church services when Maher was thirteen, due to his father’s disagreement with the Catholic Church’s position on birth control.
Maher was raised in River Vale, New Jersey, and graduated from Pascack Hills High School in Montvale in 1974. He received a B.A. in English and history from Cornell University in 1978.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher#Early_life_and_education