Robert Allan Adriance was born in New York City on October 22, 1917 to Thomas F. Adriance and Grace Underwood Adriance. He served as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army during the Second World War. He married Isabel Yandalou Long on January 17, 1942 in Buena Vista, Virginia. They had three children. Adriance graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in business. He served as vice-president of the United Services Life Insurance Company and helped found the Washington Society of Stock Analysts. He cofounded the Texas franchise of Budget Rent-A-Car with friend and fellow A.R.E. member Wilfred Sechrist in 1961. Robert, Isabel and their children moved to Virginia Beach in 1956 because of Robert's interest in Edgar Cayce's work. He volunteered his business skills for the Association for Research and Enlightenment and donated the collateral to purchase the former Cayce Hospital property. Adriance helped organize the A.R.E. Press and served on the boards of the A.R.E., the Edgar Cayce Foundation, and Atlantic University (having tracked down the University's missing charter). He served as president of both the A.R.E. and the E.C.F. Adriance was a key supporter of E.C.F. research initiatives, including archaeological projects at Bimini in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and at the Sphinx in Egypt. He died on September 12, 2002 in Virginia Beach at the age of 84.