A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Robert Edward Royall Huntley Jr. graduated from Washington and Lee (1950) and its law school (1957). He obtained a master's degree in law from Harvard University (1962). Huntley joined the W&L law faculty in 1958 and was named dean in 1967.

After only a year in that post, he accepted the position of president of W&L in 1968, the only law dean to become head of this university. He served in that capacity for 15 years which were marked by genuine leadership in times of financial peril and social upheaval.

His return to the law school at the end of his presidency was even briefer that his deanship. After one semester, he took an executive position with Best Products, Inc. He practiced law with the firm of Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Virginia before returning to Lexington in retirement. In 1982 the endowed Robert E. R. Huntley Professorship in Law was established by the W&L trustees to honor Huntley's service to the university.