Robert Spanjaard attended the HBS (secondary school) in Arnhem and then studied chemistry at the Polytechnic in Freiburg, where he became an assistant in organic chemistry. In 1900 Spanjaard was appointed deputy director at the Nederlandsche Verf- en Chemicaliënfabriek in Delft. A year later he became the company’s director.
Spanjaard was a knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, and a member of t…