Ronald B. Robie was born March 13, 1937 in Oakland, California. Raised in Oakland, he attended schools there and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a B.A. in journalism in 1958 and an M.A., also in journalism, in 1960. In 1967, he received his J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

Robie moved from Oakland to Sacramento in 1960 to work as a legislative intern and was chosen to work for Carley Porter, the influential Chair of the Assembly Committee on Water. Robie began working with Porter's office during the campaign over the state referendum on the Burns-Porter Act; ultimately accepted by voters, the act authorized the financing and construction of California's State Water Project. For the following 23 years, Robie devoted his career to California water policy issues and played a pivotal role in setting the state's course on those questions. Over that time, he acquired a reputation as an environmentalist who was also able to maintain the confidence of water developers in the state. He has characterized his approach to water policy as simultaneously emphasizing the directions of water development, water quality improvement, and water conservation and management.

Robie's influence on water issues has been exercised through terms at three state government posts. During his term with Carley Porter and the Assembly Committee on Water, two landmark water bills passed into law. The State Water Resources Control Board Act (1967) created that board to address issues of water quality and water rights; the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act (1969) revised California's water pollution law and assigned the task of administering the pollution control program to the board. It is generally recognized that the two acts were largely drafted by Robie. In 1969, Robie was appointed by Governor Reagan to be the lawyer member of the State Water Resources Control Board. During the six years Robie served on it, the board handed down a number of major, controversial decisions on environmental protection for the San Francisco Bay Delta, the New Melones Dam area, and the American River. Governor Brown appointed Robie to be Director of the California Department of Water Resources in 1975 where he served until 1983. In addition to addressing issues like sources of energy for the State Water Project, water rights law, and drought, Robie spent many years in negotiating for construction of the Peripheral Canal; the proposal was eventually defeated in a 1982 referendum. As one of its chief architects, Robie defended the proposal as a compromise which would have both completed the State Water Project and protected the environment of the Delta.

Since leaving the Department of Water Resources, Robie has been active as a judge; at this time he is a Judge of the Superior Court in Sacramento. He has taught at McGeorge School of Law and has published many articles on water issues in professional and environmental journals. An oral history interview with Robie, The California State Department of Water Resources, 1975-1983, has been published by the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.