Ronald D. Russell was born January 30, 1931, in Emporia, Kansas, the son of Hal D. and Julia Foote Russell. He had one sister, Phyllis Russell Regan, who was married to Paul Regan. He married Sarah Anne Hays on November 30, 1996 and had two stepsons, Michael and John Hays.

Russell earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Emporia State University and was elected to two national honorary fraternities: Pi Omega Pi (focused on business education), and Alpha Epsilon Rho (focused on radio and television). He was a veteran of the Korean war, in which he became an expert marksman and an accountant stationed in Tokyo, Japan.

Russell was a teacher, accountant and computer programmer. He was employed by Beatrice Food Corp, Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. and Continental Oil Co. He taught in community colleges in El Dorado, Wichita, Topeka and LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and at the Employment Security Systems Institute (ESSI) in Topeka. He retired in 1991 from the State of Kansas, where he was affiliated with the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Transportation. In addition to his jobs he was an amateur writer, from writing an occasional short story, jokes sent to Reader's Digest and training manuals for ESSI. He was also an avid Disney fan.

Russell was a member of the American Legion, Loyal Order of the Moose, and Active Prime Timers. For many years he was active with and devoted to the Presbyterian Church and was both an ordained elder and a deacon.