Austin Joseph Powell was born on September 21, 1914 in Washington, D.C., being the second of the four sons of Eris and Mary Frances (nee Conroy) Powell. His grammar school years were spent first at home (1st and 2nd grades), then successively at St. Paul's School, Washington, D.C., Cobb School and finally Most Blessed Sacrament School, both in Chevy Chase, D.C. He attended Georgetown Preparatory School, Garret Park, Maryland (1927-1931) and Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (1931 -33), but did not return for his third year because he considered the curriculum too pagan. In September of 1933 he matriculated at the University of Louvain, Belgium, where he studied for six years, earning a bachelor's and a master's degree in philosophy, and where he eventually completed his doctoral degree in philosophy (1958). Returning to the United States in 1939, he spent a year at home before obtaining a teaching position at St. Michael's College, Toronto, Canada. However, after a year (1940-41) he left this position because in his judgement it involved teaching only the history of philosophy rather than philosophy. For a year he studied under Dietrich von Hildebrand and Jacques Maritain in New York City and in the fall of 1942, he obtained an assistant professorship in philosophy at Georgetown University where he t augh t for two years. It was during this time that he discerned a vocation to the Dominican Order.

On September 18, 1944, he entered the Dominican novitiate at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, and was given the religious name Ralph. After making his first profession on September 19, 1945, he continued there with his philosophical and theological studies (1945-51), making his solemn profession on September 19, 1948. When St. Rose of Lima Priory was opened in Dubuque, Iowa, he was transferred to the new house of studies to complete his theological studies (1951-52) and was ordained a priest at St. Pius V Church, Chicago, Illinois, on June 1, 1951. He was to earn the Lectorate in Theology in 1954.

Father Powell's first assignment was as a philosophy professor at De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois (1952-53), then as a professor at Rosary College, River Forest, Illinois (1953-54), and finally as a professor at the Pontifical Faculty of Philosophy (Dominican House of Studies), River Forest, Illinois (1954-58, 1962-69). Teaching in the houses of study of the Order was to be his life's work. During this time he served as Assistant Master of Students (1952-55) and as a lecturer for the Thomist Association.

His teaching at River Forest was interrupted for a period of four years (1958-62) when he served as Professor Extraordinarius at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas ("Angelicum"), Rome, Italy. In 1969 he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where for ten years he was Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Aquinas Institute and was granted emeritus status in 1979. From 1979 until 1995 he engaged in full- time research and writing while teaching an occasional course or conducting an occasional seminar. He remained in Dubuque, Iowa, until the summer of 1981 when Aquinas Institute was moved to St. Louis, Missouri. He moved with his fellow Dominicans and resided at St. Louis Bertrand Priory in

St. Louis. During these years he strove to produce a synthesis of his philosophical thought, publishing the book Freely Chosen Reality, collaborating with Dr. John Deely on Tractatus de Signis: The Semiotic of John Poinsot, and authoring numerous articles.

Beginning in 1995 he was assigned to limited service, although he continued his research and writing. He was diagnosed with cancer and eventually in May of 2001 it became necessary to move him to the Province's Juan Macias Care Center, River Forest, Illinois. His conditioned worsened and he was moved to Resurrection Medical Center, Chicago, where he died on June 12, 2001. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, on June 16, 2001, and he was buried in the Dominican Plot at All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.