Robert "Bob" James Agonia was born August 3, 1938 on a migrant camp in Garden Grove, California. Agonia served in the Peace Corps in El Salvador. He later worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Agonia worked as Chief Contractor and for Human Resources at the Nevada Test Site Department of Energy.
Agonia married his wife Barbara on March 25, 1972. Robert Agonia has a bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach and partook in Public Administration graduate studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.