Robert D. Kleinschmidt received his B.A. degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois, followed by a graduate degree in Architecture and Landscape Design from Columbia University. A William Kinney Fellows Traveling Fellowship provided for a year's study abroad, after which he joined the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, in the Chicago office. In 1976, along with fellow associate partner Donald D. Powell, he left SOM to establish the firm of Powerll/Kleinschmidt, Inc. based in Chicago and specializing in interior architecture and space planning.