[2] The son of Montreal pediatrician Alton Goldbloom,[3] he was educated at Selwyn House School and Lower Canada College.

He was the first physician-in-chief and director of research at the Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

[8] His older brother Victor Goldbloom also started his career as a pediatrician, and later became a politician and then Canadian Commissioner of Official Languages, and Companion of the Order of Canada.

[3] Richard was married to fellow Order of Canada recipient Ruth Goldbloom (née Schwartz) from 1946 until her death in 2012.

Their youngest son, David Goldbloom, is the former Physician-in-Chief at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).