Henry Sloane Coffin was born on January 5, 1887 in New York, New York, USA to Edmund Coffin and Euphemia Sloane.

Coffin Yale College between 1893 and 1897, where he acquired a Bachelor of Arts. He continued on at Yale, acquiring a Master's degree in 1900.

Afterwards, he attended the Union Theological Seminary, where he received his Bachelor of Divinity.

He married Dorothy Eells.

He died on November 25, 1954 in Lakeville, Connecticut, USA at age 77. He was interred at Sleepy Hollow Cemetary in Sleepy Hollow, New York, USA.