Lives with his wife, Marguerite Succio Cowles, on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. Russell has been a race-car driver and mechanic in Europe, and owned an art gallery in Minneapolis. He has four daughters, Melissa Ann (b. 1965) and Amy (b. 1968), with first wife Ann Knadle, and Laura (b. 1969) and Gretchen (b. 1971), with second wife Gretchen Miller.