The late Ronald Russell was born in Croydon, England. He attended St. Paul's School, London, served in the Royal Air Force (1943-46), and then received an honors degree in English Language and Literature at Merton College, Oxford. He followed a career in teaching in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Monmouth and Ely, Cambridgeshire, and examined and lectured for various universities, including London, Oxford, and Cambridge. Ronald's earlier books were devoted to the history, exploration, and restoration of canals and waterways in the United Kingdom. He was chairman of the National Rally of Boats in 1971. When his wife Jill undertook long-distance swimming for health reasons, eventually raising £40,000 for charity through sponsorship, he documented her feats in Swimming for Life , an authoritative study of the benefits of swimming for disabled people. He also turned to the study of prints, writing two books on that subject.

His Discovering Antique Prints sold some fifty thousand copies. After Ronald retired from teaching, he and Jill took the Gateway course at The Monroe Institute, following that with several more courses over the years. They joined the Institute's Professional Division and were appointed to the board of advisors. They became close friends of Bob and Nancy Monroe and Ronald edited Monroe's third book, Ultimate Journey , contributing a preface to the first edition. He went on to edit two volumes of contributions detailing the many ways of using Monroe's Hemi-Sync: Using the Whole Brain (1993) and Focusing the Whole Brain (2004). Ronald gave several lecture courses on states of consciousness for the University of Glasgow. He also wrote his own study of altered states of consciousness, The Vast Enquiring Soul .