Which Bob Schmitt?

Find out if this is the Bob Schmitt you knew

A recent picture taken
at a local diner by my
friend Tom Page.
(Click for more info.)

A portrait taken in the
mid-90s by Tom Page
who, it so happens, is
also a professional photographer.

Bob at an undisclosed location in the Hollywood Hills. (Click the picture for a closer view.)

This page exists mostly for lost friends and acquaintances that might be trying to hunt me down. I suppose I have to face the fact that I don't have the most unique name, in fact as I understand it, Schmitt is basically the same as "Smith" in Germany which, of course, is one of the most generic names here in the States. In the Milwaukee area, where I reside these days, there are 10 Robert Schmitt listings in the phone book and over five pages of listings under Schmid, Schmidt, Schmit, Schmitt and Schmitz. (There's even a half dozen Schmitters which I swear I've been called as a nickname at some point in my life.) Thankfully, I am not a Schmidt because there are no less that 48 Roberts listed in the 2010 Milwaukee phone book.

It's no easier finding me on the Web these days either. In 1993, when I launched my first Web site, if you searched for "Bob Schmitt" you'd see plenty of links to my stuff, but over the years it's gotten more and more crowded on the Web and there are lots of people named Bob Schmitt out there. Now days, you can find me buried two, three, four, five, six pages deep, amongst gobs of links for home builders, ball players, antique clock sellers and the like. But I was the first, and so I’ve got the domain name every other Bob Schmitt wishes he had.

So, if you're looking for an old friend named Bob Schmitt and are wondering which Bob Schmitt I am, here's an abbreviated bio that will hopefully give you enough info to determine if I'm the one you knew/know:

Early years

Born in Wisconsin Rapids, when I was two my family moved to Madison, Wisconsin where we resided in a big tan house on the corner of Elmside Boulevard where the road bends around Circle Park. We lived there during my childhood years where I attended Lowell Elementary School, followed by Marquette (now called O'Keefe) Middle School, and finally my first few years at Madison East High School.

I am the third child of a five child family. I have an older brother and sister, Mark and Mary, and younger siblings Chris and Kathy. Yes, I'm the middle child, dead center. It's probably the chief factor in the development of my independent character.

At 15, I started my first job at Ella's Deli on East Washington Avenue and have been working hard ever since. For the next five years, I worked at Ella's on and off through high school and college, first bussing tables and later assembling deserts as a soda jerk in the ice cream department. During this period, I also worked as a janitor and foreman at Environment Control and a picture framer at the Art Cellar/Gallery One.

During my high school years we moved out, to what back then were the boonies, to a duplex on Milwaukee Street. After high school I attended Madison Area Technical College where I graduated with a degree in Commercial Art. It wasn't long before I went to work professionally.

Professional life

My first professional job was working as a production artist at BB Design (now Braun Advertising Group) in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer. After several years there, I moved on to RSN Promotions (now defunct) and then to Hare Strigenz in Milwaukee's Third Ward district. At this point, I opted for adventure and moved to California taking along my wife to be, Nancy.

We settled in San Diego and for the next 7 or 8 years I worked as a graphic designer/art director, first at JEMS Publishing then Jamison Bell Advertising (now Jamison Advertising Group). We then moved north to Santa Rosa, California (just north of San Francisco) where I took a job as an art director for Songline Studios a now defunct division of O'Reilly and Associates, a computer book publisher that is still plugging away.

After several years with Songline, we moved back to Milwaukee so I could take a job with Fullhouse Media as a multimedia programmer and manager of their interactive group. I stayed with Fullhouse for the next 8 or so years and in late 2005, left to work for the best boss ever: myself! I've been freelancing ever since, doing multimedia, Flash, Web development, etc. under the guise of Redrom Interactive.

Personal Life

As I mentioned, I met my wife, Nancy, in Milwaukee and moved with her to San Diego. It was while there that we had our first daughter, Hayley. When Hayley was four we moved to Santa Rosa and when she was six, almost seven, back to Milwaukee. It was a few years after moving back that we had our second daughter, Madeleine (Maddie). We moved into our current residence a whopping 12 years ago now and have been in the same spot ever since. Hayley's off at college now, and Maddie has just finished the fourth grade.

Contact Me

So, now I ask, is that enough information to determine if I am the Bob Schmitt you know or knew? If so, I'd love very much to hear from you. If you've read this far, why not go the final step and contact me? Click on over to the contact page, fill in the blanks and it'll send me an email with all your info.

Bob Schmitt
June 2010