Meier became Germany's oldest living man on March 2, 2005, when he was age 107, following the death of 111-year-old Hermann Dörnemann.
In October 2006, Robert Meier met then 110-year-old Henry Allingham, the oldest living British World War I veteran, in his hometown.
Robert Meier was born to German parents in Sergejewka, Ukraine, in the Russian Empire.
He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany for 70 years, and worked as a railway worker.
Robert Meier had a fine sense of humour; in 2006, he let the local press take his picture while he was wearing a World War I spiked helmet and a T-shirt with the slogan "109 - na und?"