Roman Mykhailovych Schmidt was born on 20 April 1951 in the village of Staryi Myliatyn [uk], in Ukraine's western Lviv Oblast.

He studied at the Lviv Veterinary Institute from 1968 to 1971 before serving in the Soviet Army from 1975 to 1978, and achieved his doctorate in 1981 after completing his thesis, titled "Protein-Nuclein Exchange in the Rumen Mucosa of Calves when Fed Urea".

Schmidt resigned from the Verkhovna Rada on 16 February 2000 to become Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food,[2] and was succeeded by Taras Chornovil.

He encouraged economic diversification by small landowners, and sought support from Canada in improving the Ukrainian agricultural economy.

[8] Schmidt was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2002 and 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, both times as a member of the party list of the Our Ukraine Bloc.