Edward James Grieve was born in Allan's Flat, Victoria, Australia, on 9 July 1904, the third child and second son of Edward John Grieve, a headmaster and Anastasia, née Doolan, the daughter of a grazier. His brother is Professor B J Grieve, PhD, of Perth, Australia. Grieve gained a scholarship to Williamstown High School and a Newman Scholarship to Newman College, Melbourne University. He studied medicine at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, and was influenced by Sir Hugh Devine in Melbourne. After working as medical superintendent at St Vincent's Hospital from 1931 to 1935 he served as a Captain in the AAMC from 1942. He was director of Moreland Hospital from 1946 to 1972. He married Marie Tighe in 1935 and they had two daughters, one a medical practitioner and the other a pharmaceutical chemist. His hobbies included breeding and racing horses. He is thought to have died in the late 1970's.