Robert Lamothe was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where he lived until his family moved to the United States when he was 13 years old.  They settled in Hamden, Connecticut.

A member of Pierson College, he received a B.A. degree in Architecture from Yale in 1977. After graduating from Yale, he taught French at Hamden High School for three years before enrolling at the Columbia University School of Architecture. He received his M.Arch. from Columbia in 1984.  For the next ten years, he worked in the New Haven area as an architect for three major firms. During that time he also taught Haitian Creole at Yale through the African Language Department.
Since 1993, Robert has been teaching at Norwalk Community College where he is now a full professor.  He teaches developmental English and French.  For the past four years, he has taught Haitian Creole at Yale through the DILS program.
Professor Lamothe has been involved with a number of organizations bringing help to Haiti.  He was Vice President of Hunger Relief and Development, a group founded by State Representative Vito Mazza of West Haven. He has done volunteer work with other organizations such as the Schweitzer Hospital of Deschapelles, Haitis Back Porch of the Archdiocese of Norwich, Haiti Beyond 2004, Haiti Dental Foundation  of Jeremie, and he is now involved with the Yale for Haiti Collaborative.