Bob Kiger was born in Manhattan, NY on January 3, 1946 to Robert L. Kiger & Paul "Opina" Boynak. An early child of the baby boom, living in Manhattan, he enjoyed the fruits of post-war upbringing including tap dance lessons in the same school with the Hines Brothers. The school brochure stated "With his charm, good looks and personaliity, we say, "Hollywood make way for Bobby Kiger". Bob's journey to Hollywood would be a circuitous one.
His family moved to Whittier, California before the Dodgers or Disneyland opened. His first paying job was delivering the Whittier News on his bicycle, a vehicle that played a major role in forming his attitudes towards society, sustainability and his philosophy of life.
Kiger showed a leadership role in high school, by being voted "Head Chearleader" at St. Paul & later, Sierra HS. Immediately after graduation he enlisted in the USAF where he served from 1963-1967, first as a nuclear weapons specialist and, after a service connected disability, later cross training into base photographer.
This move into photography changed Kiger's life. After being honorably discharged he was accepted into the College of Graphic Arts & Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. There he rose to become Editor and General Manager of the RIT REPORTER, and was a member of the last class to attend the downtown campus and transition to the new "Brick City" Campus in the suburb of Henrietta. Kiger worked summers at the Graphic Arts Research Center and successfully lobbied to turn the pulp student newspaper into a glossy weekly magazine.
Like so many of his generation Kiger was an outspoken opponent of the Viet Nam war and was "arrested", along with many staff and the Reporter's faculty advisor, for publishing "GI Joe meets Wonder Woman" a satire on society and war. The case gained national attention when the American Legion accused Kiger and all of "defaming the American Flag" which was in reality a bunting draped over the well endowed model who depicted Wonder Woman. Art Buchwald commented that it was more a case of "defaming the girl".
During his final two years at RIT, Kiger migrated his major from still photography into film & television production. He graduated "cum laude" in 1970. His thesis film "There is no Death. There are no Dead" was widely reviewed and featured in the May 1970 edition of AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER magazine, in an article entitled "Medium's Cool . . . or How I Spent My Summer Vacation".
The film, There Is No Death, There Are No Dead, is listed in the Library of Congress as "the definitive film on the Religion of Spiritualism". [We are currently searching for the ISBN card from the Library of Congress]
His early writing for AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER magazine led to film and video work including jobs at Universal Studios, Encyclopedia Brittanica Films and Sutherland Learning Associates. During this period he joined the Directors Guild of America.
His writing took a leap forward with an assignment to cover the newly emerging field of electronic video recording and post production. In October, 1972 the magazine published Kiger's seminal article "Videography. What Does It All Mean?" The name "videography" was promptly adopted by video makers around the globe.
Kiger formed the original "Videography Company" in early 1973 as a California Corporation with registered tradenames and trademarks. The company produced a wide variety of TV commercials, documentaries, early music videos, designed the production of "Barney Miller" for ABC network and contributed to the production of several feature and made for TV movies, winnning numerous Monitor Awards and at least one Clio nomination up unitl 1982.
Economic recession and increasing competititon took it's toll on The Videography Company & Studios. Late in 1982 Kiger handed the keys over to his backers and moved to Maui. "The estimated value of the videography industry is in the hundreds of billions, if not trillion dollar range, today" says Kiger.
He opened a small bicycle rental business next to the pool in the Lahaina TraveLodge and began thinking of big time ways to deploy his Schwinn Cruiser Bicycles. The youngsters in Lahaina loved the bikes and made every sort of deal to get rental time. They began calling him . . . "Cruiser Bob".
In the winter of 1982, while brainstorming marketing ideas for his business, Kiger decided to legally adopt the nickname "Cruiser Bob" and simultaneously dreamed up the idea for a bicycle tour down Maui's 10,000 foot volcano [Haleakala]. This new industry took off like a shot and within a year the full assets of "Cruiser Bob's" were devoted to bringing people down "the steepest highway on Earth" on bicycles. To date Maui's downhill bicycle industry has earned over $100,000,000 with no end in site. It was also the inspiration for the utilization of ski lifts for summer mountain bicycling at Mammoth Mountain and later at ski slopes around the world.
After creating two multi-billion dollar industries from scratch, with little personal benefits for his efforts, Kiger took time out to make his first round the world trip with his bicycle. He was searching for downhill bicycle venues around the world. He found something much more important . . . the love of his life, a self proclaimed "sensible curly readhead" named Lynnde Richter. They met in Amsterdam and she joined him on the continuation of his round the world bike adventure. They were married in 1990 by mutual consent in the French Alps and later in a ceremony on Maui. In a tragic twist of fate, Lynnde was diagnosed with "terminal ovarian cancer". She passed on in June, 1992.
Bob Kiger became reclusive and minimalistic after her death. He embarked on his second round the world trip with his bicycle as directed by his dearly departed wife. In 1996 he piled his most valued possessions in a 4x4x8 pine box and shipped them to the mainland. The next phase of his life would be the most challenging of all. He bacame a "bicycle minimalist and videography philosopher!" and that is where he devotes his effort to this day. In 1999 he registerd the title "VID" as a movie and other multi-media production and is currently writing the script and shooting segments.
He regularly maintains websites at: www.cruiserbob.com - www.videographyblog.com and www.vidiots.us and is now engaged in an online incubator for young people to create "crazy new businesses" that benefit modern humans.