According to reports, famed Apple programmer Bob Bishop passed away September 29th. Bob was known for many early Apple II programs which highlighted the capabilities of the Apple II computer and was constantly pushing the boundaries.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison receiving his PhD. He went on to work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and his missions included working on Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon.
He published a number of titles for the Apple II including ROCKET PILOT, STAR WARS, SAUCER INVASION, and SPACE MAZE. In 1978, he was invited to work at Apple by Steve Wozniak himself. He joined Wozniak in the Apple R&D department which at the time consisted of just Bob and Woz. After retiring from Apple in 1981, he went on to publish another Apple II game, Beware of The Money Munchers through Datasoft.
Bob was best known in the Apple world for Apple-Talker, the first program ever to create human speech on the Apple computer as well as for Apple-Vision, a demo program for the Apple II. For us here at A.P.P.L.E., Bob was a prolific author who wrote more than a dozen articles for us over the years.
