Professor Neftci completed his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and was head of the FAME Certificate program in Switzerland. He taught at the Graduate School, City University of New York; ICMA Centre, University of Reading; and at the University of Lausanne. He was also a Visiting Professor in the Finance Department at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Known his books and articles, he was a regular columnist for CBN daily, the most influential financial newspaper in China.

Salih Neftci was already suffering from gliosarcoma, a malignant brain cancer, while writing the second edition. It published just 5 months before his death on April 15, 2009.