Robert Stanley Breed, an essential figure in the sanitation of milk, was born on October 17th, 1877 in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania. In 1898, he received his B.S. degree in biology from Amherst College, and then received his M.S. degree in mineralogy from the University of Colorado in 1899. In 1902, he received his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University.

In 1902, Breed became a Professor of biology at Allegheny College, where he taught for eleven years. During that time, he also studied biology and bacteriology at the University of Gottingen in 1910 and the University of Kiel in 1911. In 1913, Breed was appointed as a Bacteriologist at the New York State Agriculture Experiment Station, where he remained until his retirement in 1947. Throughout his career, Breed also published many scientific articles. He died in February 1956.

Robert S. Breed is best known for his development of a method for counting bacteria in milk (also called the Breed Method), which was then widely utilized in the milk sterilization process.