Robert Dean Wilson was born in Blackburn on 16 December 1941. He was educated at Stockport Grammar School, 1949-1960, and Stockport was his home at the time of his matriculation at Edinburgh University to study for the B.Sc. (Honours) course in Physics. In October 1964 he was awarded the degree of B.Sc. Mathematical Science.
He then worked as an occupational psychologist, completing his M.Sc. at UMIST in the early 1980s. He worked for British Airways, Reed International and United Biscuits among other firms, and later became a consultant. At the end of his career he was a Board Director of Gammon Construction, the specialist bridge and tunnel company based in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for Human Resources.
Wilson also lectured at Plymouth Polytechnic (now the University of Plymouth) and at the University of the West Indies, based in Nassau, Bahamas.