Robert was born in Whitestone NY and grew up in College Point. During his childhood he spent a great deal of time at his maternal grandmother's house in Corona. Both of his parents' families had strong Italian roots and followed traditions from Italy. After retiring from banking in 2014, he began to dedicate his time to finding his roots in earnest. In 2018 he started a blog, and the following year a podcast, both to promote the research of Italian ancestry. In October of 2022 he published his first book, "Farmers and Nobles" the story of his two Italian-American families and how their lives in America were very similar, although centuries ago the families came from two very different socio-economic classes in Italy.