Robert Penbrooke was born in Oxford, England, in 1934 and attended Darrow School, New Lebanon, New York, and Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. He graduated in architectural history from Princeton University in 1957. A commissioned officer of the U.S. Army Field Artillery Reserve, he attended Columbia University Evening School and Syracuse University's Graduate School of Architecture. For 32 years his professional responsibilities took him throughout the Northeast. He lives with his loving family in Central New York.