Robert Francis Michael (RFM) McInnis was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1942. He graduated from the Saint John Vocational School with a Diploma in Applied Arts under Fred Ross and D. Edwin Campbell. He then worked as a newspaper photographer in Saint John followed by five years as a the Royal Canadian Air Force photographer. From 1966-67 McInnis worked as a graphic illustrator for the Department of Transport 1966-67 in Ottawa, then moved to British Columbia where he joined the Art Department at Prince George College. In 1971 he moved to Toronto to pursue art full-time and began travelling across Canada focusing on the figure as the main subject in his paintings. RFM McInnis currently lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba.