Floyd Edward Bliven, Jr., M.D. was a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester and his medical degree from Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry. He began his internship at Strong Memorial Hospital but was drafted into military service towards the end of World War II. Bliven first served at Oliver General Hospital before he was assigned to a station hospital in Tokyo where he encountered patients with musculoskeletal trauma and tuberculosis of the musculoskeletal system.

Bliven returned to Rochester to finish his orthopedic residency training in 1948 and joined the orthopedic surgery faculty at Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1953. He began his career at the Medical College of Georgia in 1956 as a member of the faculty and as an orthopedic surgeon at MC G's teaching hospital then known as the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Hospital. Bliven was one of the surgeons recruited by Dr. William H. Moretz, who at that time was the chief of surgery and who later became president ofMCG. Bliven served as the Orthopedic Section Chief from 1956 to 1979. When he named the section chief, he was tasked with enlarging the orthopedics program at MCG and Talmadge Hospital. As there was a growing need for orthopedic surgeons in the state, he focused on the residency program. By the time he retired in 1986, 70 residents had completed the orthopedic program at MCG. Bliven taught continuing education courses at MCG regarding orthopedic care for numerous years.

In addition to his service at MCG, Bliven reached out across the state to provide orthopedic care to children at the Waycross Crippled Children's Clinic. Beginning in 1958, he traveled one day every month to Waycross to provide this medical care. Bliven was a consultant to the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Eisenhower Hospital, and the Georgia Department of Corrections. He served on many faculty, state, and national committees, such as the Medical Association of Georgia's Prison Healthcare Committee. In honor of Bliven, the Medical Association of Georgia established the Floyd Bliven Award in 1997 which is given to facilities which exhibit special excellence in the health and well-being of those incarcerated in prisons and jails within the state of Georgia.

Bliven died suddenly at the age of 79 on March 30, 2001. He was survived by his wife Hester and their six children and eight grandchildren.