Robert Furman was born on 21 August 1915 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. He was married to Mary Eddy. He died on 14 October 2008 in Adamstown, Maryland, USA.
While serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, he helped supervise the day-to-day construction operation of the Pentagon as an engineer. Later, he was named chief of intelligence on the Manhattan Project.