Paul W. Caine was born in Charleston, Indiana. He attended grade school and high school in Greencastle, Indiana. In 1909, he entered Indiana University and helped the other founders in organizing Kappa Alpha Nu. However, because of a disastrous fire in the fraternity house in which he was employed, he never finished his sophomore year. Caine went into the catering business in his hometown, later attended Columbia University, set up a catering business in Gary, Indiana, and published a book on catering which was copyrighted in 1919. He was instrumental in setting up the Gamma, Delta, and Zeta chapters. He later went into business in Peoria, Illinois and was fatally burned during an explosion of gaseous materials in his business in 1922.