Bob is a founding member of the Chicago Brass Band. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, where he was Principal Trombone in the Juilliard Orchestra, and Indiana University, where he was Principal Trombone in the Festival Orchestra. His teachers were Roger Smith of the Metropolitan Opera and Lewis Van Haney of the New York Philharmonic. His career path has taken four distinct turns. He started out as a professional musician, playing with the USMA Band at West Point, the National Orchestra of New York, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Goldman Band, five different opera orchestras in Germany, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, Switzerland. He was a semi-finalist in the 1976 International Trombone competition in Toulons, France.

The second road led to university studio teaching; he served on the faculties of Indiana University, Indiana State University, and Ithaca College while continuing to be very active as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Next, prompted by a desire to spend evenings with his family, was a ten year period as an administrator, first as Director of Educational Programs for the Lake Forest Symphony, later as Department Chair of Fine Arts/Humanities at Moraine Valley Community College, and finally as Music Coordinator at the same institution. Today, he is on the fourth fork as a classroom teacher, committed to developing the next generation of audiences for classical music. At the beginning of this phase, he authored a textbook for one of his courses, moved on to developing an internet version for the other, and last year picked up his instruments again after a 14-year absence. His desire to play baritone in the Chicago Brass Band comes from his experience playing for Deutsche Marks and beer in two German Brass bands over 25 years ago. By the way, in about five years he is due for another change!