Bob started the effort to create Lojban in 1987 along with Nora Tansky, Gary Burgess and Tommy Whitlock. He later created the The Logical Language Group (LLG) - the organization behind the language, and incorporated it the following year. Previously, he had worked with James Cooke Brown in the development of Lojban's predecessor – Loglan.
Between 1987 and 2002, he first served as the President of LLG. During this period, Bob was heavily involved in both the development of the language as well as the management of the LLG.
In 2002, he withdrew from active involvement in the LLG while remaining on the Board of Directors. He was re-elected to the Presidency in April, 2010.
Bob has a B.S degree in Astrophysics from Michigan State University, and a career backgound in software systems contracting. He lives with his wife, Nora Tansky, near Washington DC in the USA.
Membership is conferred by a majority vote of the existing membership to people who demonstrate a high personal dedication to the purposes of The Logical Language Group, and possess relevant competence - particularly in one or more of the fields of science and scholarship listed in Article 2 of the bylaws. (Linguistics, Psychology, Philosophy, Logic, Mathematics, Computer Science, Anthropology, Sociology, Education and Human Biology.)