Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, John R. Cobb attended the Staunton Military Academy in Virginia, and enlisted on a merchant ship at the age of 16.

In 1934 Dr. Cobb became the Gibney Orthopedic Fellow at the 'Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled' in New York City.

In 1936 he received a Doctor of Medical Sciences degree from Columbia University.

During his work after 1934 at the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled, Dr. Cobb developed and led the Margaret Caspary scoliosis clinic.

Cobb experimented with various methods and concluded that the most effective approach was to use a turnbuckle plaster jacket in combination with spinal fusion.