Born in New York City in 1947 and raised in Kirkwood, Missouri, Robert attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, 1965 – 1967. In 1967 he was drafted into the United States Army and spent 1968 in Vietnam. He returned to Missouri and spent two years at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.

In 1971 he entered into a stained-glass apprenticeship with Robert Markert and Peter Eichhorn at Fenestra Studios in Louisville, Kentucky. He has been an artist/craftsman for over thirty years, working with and for major studios and individual artists.