Cliffton Morris Fischbach Jr. was born on June 8, 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky to American parents of German descent; Dr. Cliffton Morris Fischbach Sr., a colonel in the U.S. Army who served during World War II and the Korean War, and Flora Marie Doom Fischbach. As a military officer, Cliffton served in the U.S. Army for either 23 or 24 years. While stationed in South Korea, Cliffton met Sunok, his future wife. Some time after, the couple moved to the United States, where they got married and had two sons, Thomas and Mark. Following Mark's birth, Cliffton retired from the military to pursue a job as a layout artist for a book company and the family ended up relocating to Cincinnati, Ohio.