Dr. Rome was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received his M.D. from Temple University in 1935, which provided him with an honorary D.Sc. in 1967. He interned at the University of Pennsylvania (1937–38) and remained there for a year in internal medicine. His psychiatric residency was served at the Pennsylvania Hospital for Nervous and Mental Diseases and at the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital (1934–41). He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving in the South Pacific. At the end of the war, he returned briefly to Philadelphia, moving to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (1947), to work under Dr. Francis Braceland. Later, he became Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Senior Consultant. He remained at the Mayo Clinic for the rest of his professional life, retiring in the 1980’s.
Dr. Rome was a professor at the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota for many years. He contributed many articles to the psychiatric literature and also served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry (1967), as Editorial Director of Medical Insight (1970), and as Editorial Director of Psychiatric Annals (1971). He was involved in many organizational activities on a state and national level, including as a member of the American Psychopathological Association, the Anthropological and Sociological Associations, the Academy of Psychoanalysis, and the World Psychiatric Association, of which he was President (1990). He was President of the Minnesota Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (1962–63) and President of the Inter-American Council of Psychiatric Associations (1970–71).
Dr. Rome was deeply involved with the American Psychiatric Association, serving on many committees and boards. He served as President of the American Psychiatric Association (1965-66).