Russ was born in New York City on February 25, 1955, and grew up on a farm in Newtown, Pennsylvania and West Port Island, Maine. He graduated from the George School and earned a degree in English from Beloit College, Wisconsin in 1978. During Law School, he clerked for the South Carolina Attorney General's Office. Russ graduated from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1982 and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar that same year. Immediately after, he joined the Marine Corps at the age of 27. In the Marine Corps Officer Candidates School, Quantico, Virginia, his platoon started with 52 officer candidates and graduated 26 with Keep being number 13. Upon earning his Lieutenant’s bars Russ attended The Basic School at Quantico, VA where his ROTC College graduate peers addressed him as pappy or dad because of Keep’s advanced age.

He left the Marine Corps as a Captain in 1986 and has practiced law on Hilton Head Island ever since. He has served for many years as President of the Hilton Head Bar Association, raising its membership from 7 to over 200. Russ is a South Carolina Supreme Court certified mentor to young lawyers. He currently serves as a part-time Beaufort County Magistrate Judge.

In 1988, he founded and developed the Dos Lupes Gun Range in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Russ co-founded the Hilton Head Corvette Club in 1989 and is an International Rotary Paul Harris Fellow. He is a member of Providence Presbyterian Church and occasionally teaches classes on Scripture. He enjoys power boating and sports cars from the `50’s and `60’s. He authored a book on Luger pistols and is an avid collector and shooter of World War I and II firearms. He is a lifetime sustaining member of the NRA.