Robert Kennedy was born in 1938, the son of an Austrian father and an English mother, both school teachers. He attended Culford private school and Norwich art school in Norfolk, England.    

After living in London for eight years and teaching art at the Tottenham Technical College, Kennedy moved to Canada in 1967, where he taught art for five years in Brampton, Ontario.

In 1972 Kennedy went into business for himself, selling courses of instruction by mail on nutrition, bodybuilding and fitness. In 1974 he started his first magazine, MuscleMag International, with an initial print run of 110,000. He had no previous experience with magazine publishing, but the magazine has remained successful now for 35 years.    

Kennedy spent the 1980s writing books in his every spare moment. Of the 53 books written, several were New York Times bestsellers, including Hardcore Bodybuilding, Reps!, RockHard!, Beef It! and Pumping Up! He eventually decided to become a book publisher himself, and has now published hundreds of books.    

The 1990s were devoted to developing his business. Kennedy opened a string of 26 fitness stores and franchises and a fitness clothing line; all were eventually sold to concentrate on the core business of book and magazine publishing.    

Currently, the magazine-publishing arm includes six titles: MuscleMag International (hardcore bodybuilding), Reps! (building a proportionate body), Oxygen (women’s fitness), American Curves (swimsuit images of fitness women), Maximum Fitness (men’s fitness) and Clean Eating (eating for health and fitness).    

Kennedy is married to fitness writer Tosca Reno, who is the author of the best-selling book series The Eat-Clean Diet (published by Robert Kennedy Publishing). Tosca is also a feature writer for Oxygen and Clean Eating magazines.    

Robert and Tosca, along with their five children and two Labs, live in the Caledon Hills of Ontario just north of Toronto. Their offices are in Mississauga, Ontario.