Merchant, born in Aberdeen. His father, Arthur Gordon, was an Edinburgh advocate, and his grandfather, Robert Gordon of Straloch, was a noted cartographer who contributed to Blaeu's Atlas of 1654.
Robert inherited a substantial sum when his father died in 1680, and began to trade in the city. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen (1689), and travelled abroad, eventually establishing a business as a merchant trader in the Baltic port of Danzig. He made investments in Aberdeen, and retired to the City in 1720.
On his death he gave his entire estate to build a school for boys, the Robert Gordon's Hospital (1750). The Robert Gordon University is named after him.
