Saleem Watson received his bachelor of science degree from Andrews University in Michigan. He completed his graduate studies at Dalhousie University and McMaster University, where he received his Ph.D. Dr. Watson conducted subsequently research at the Mathematics Institute of the University of Warsaw in Poland. He taught mathematics at Pennsylvania State University before serving at California State University, Long Beach, where he is currently professor emeritus. Dr. Watson's research encompasses the field of functional analysis.

Dr. Watson is an important co-author for Dr. Stewart's best-selling calculus textbook series as well as his popular precalculus, college algebra and trigonometry texts.