Robert Monks was born on 4 December 1933 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Millicent "Milly" Sprague. He died on 29 April 2025 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA.
He was the founder of Institutional Shareholder Services in 1985, the LENS Fund in 1990, The Corporate Library (later GMI Ratings and now part of MSCI) in 2000, and ValueEdge Advisors in 2014.