Bob Cram was an American ski pioneer, commercial artist, ski cartoonist, speaker, and television personality. He was born on November 25, 1925 in Seattle, WA, attending University Heights Grade School there. He began skiing at age 11, when he became a Boy Scout so he could go skiing with the troop. On his first trip to Snoqualmie, he shared a pair of skis with a friend. From that day on, Bob was hooked and started washing cars and waxing floors for ski money. In his early years, he also possessed an irresistible urge to draw, sketching action figures while in class. Bob attended Roosevelt High School in Seattle. He was involved in the school paper and started doing cartoons while in school. He was also in the Roosevelt Review, a theatrical production, in spring 1943, where he played a comedic role. Upon graduating in 1944, Bob enlisted in the 66th Infantry Division of the US Army. He fought in World War II and received the Purple Heart for his role, surviving the sinking of the SS Leopoldville on Christmas Eve 1944, a troop ship struck by a German submarine on its way to England in order to supply more troops for the Battle of the Bulge. 750 others perished in the tragedy; Bob was rescued by British ship HMS Brilliant. Bob was still sent to Europe to fight and was wounded. Just in time for the winter of 1945/1946, Bob was transferred to a military police unit in Salzburg, Austria, where he could ski at nearby Zell am See. He took Arlberg ski lessons from Hans Pichler, one of the instructors Hans Hauser had recruited at Sun Valley during its second year of operation (1937/1938). Bob skied every afternoon, and it was in Austria where Bob developed his graceful signature turns. Upon his return to the States in June 1946, he attended the Burnley School of Art in Seattle on the GI Bill to pursue his dream of becoming a commercial artist. During his four years at the school, now known as the Art Institute of Seattle, he joined the Seattle Mountaineers and ski raced on weekends with friends at the Meany Ski Hut. There, in 1947, he met his future wife, Martha. Bob married Martha Cram in 1952 and they had three children: Robin (1954), Sara (1956), and Doug (1958). In 1956/1957, Bob and Martha purchased wooded property about a mile from Matthews Beach. They worked long weekends and cleared only the trees necessary to build their home in the woods; they were dedicated conservationists. In 1949, Bob published his first ski cartoons in an issue of the University of Washington Columns magazine and began teaching skiing at Snoqualmie Pass, instructing with Buzz Fiorini’s ski school, which he did on his available weekends for eight years. In the winter of 1952, Bob spent several weeks working in San Francisco and used the opportunity to ski at Squaw Valley, where he met two men who were to be lifelong friends: Gordy Butterfield, who was on the ski patrol, and Warren Miller, who was living in a trailer and was shooting a ski movie. Bob was developing his art career in advertising working for the Martin and Tuttle Agency in Seattle. Here he produced illustrations for everything from Grandma’s Cookies to Alaska Steamship Company advertisements. Later, he landed more lucrative work for Frederick & Nelson department store, and, in 1957, he joined Miller MacKay Advertising, where he worked on a cartoon series to be printed on Rainier Beer cans. In 1956, Bob and seven other local artists joined together to create Graphic Studios, and that original group stayed together until retirement. Their clients included: Piggly Wiggly, Grandmas Cookies, Nordstrom, Grocery Boys, and Gais Bakery. Bob started with ski cartooning for the UW Daily and National Skiing magazine and, in 1958, produced his first book, “The Jolly Skiers,” as a promotional give-away for a one-year subscription of Skiing magazine. He produced a regular cartoon series in Skiing with each devoted to a specific topic, such as the “Four Types of Ski Instructors,” “Why Do You Ski,” and “The Olympic Games and How to Go for Less.” His cartoons were a regular feature in Skiing through 1962. In 1963, KING-TV asked Bob to replace outgoing weatherman cartoonist Bob Hale. He gladly accepted and excelled as the station’s popular weatherman for eight years, making the ever-changing Seattle weather entertaining. Known as the cartooning weatherman, his cartoon characters included Milli Bar, Big Hi, and Onshore Flo, a cast he would draw on large panels prior to airtime. Then, during the show, he would add the funny, finishing details. Drawing on his immediate success as weatherman, Bob started a weekly television series, Ski-Nanny, where he produced and hosted half-hour KING-TV telecasts on Fridays during the winter. As Bob noted in his 2013 book, “That’s Ski Life,” over a nine-year period he and his crew produced nearly one hundred programs and were able to visit many of the major ski resorts in the West, even sending a film crew to Europe for a few shows. In producing Ski-Nanny, Bob was able to meet many of the skiing greats of the era and recalled playing tennis at the Seattle Tennis Club with Jean-Claude Killy after the filming of a show. In 1964, Bob began drawing multi-panel, single-subject cartoons for Ski magazine. During this period, Bob began illustrating books for others, and, in 1971, at the recommendation of his ski publisher friend Bill Tanler, he produced his own book. The result was “Here Come the Skiers,” which features a collection of his cartoons from Ski and Skiing. In 1972, he illustrated local outdoor author Harvey Manning’s “Backpacking; One Step at a Time,” and, in 1983, he collaborated with Morten Lund on “The Real Skier’s Dictionary.” Bob enjoyed art, skiing, tennis, camping, and golf in his spare time. In 1974, Bob and Martha bought a cabin near Mazama, WA. They essentially re-built the cabin and would go over for 4-5 months during the summer, plus several extended winter trips for cross-country skiing. Bob continued to work as a part-time weatherman cartoonist by filling in for the regular weatherman at KOMO between 1971 and 1978. He also worked for QFC as their spokesman and PR guy on various TV ads between 1973 and 1983. In 1988, at ages 63 and 60 respectively, Bob and Martha won the seniors mixed tennis doubles at the Seattle Tennis Club. After a 25-year career in television, films, and cartoons, Bob retired, and he and Martha began making many ski trips around the world. He was a charter member of the Seattle Graphic Artists Guild and was inducted into the Northwest Ski Hall of Fame in 2004. Bob was singled out by the International Ski History Association (ISHA) in 2012 for a Lifetime Achievement Award for Illustrated Ski Humor. Both retired, Bob and Martha moved into Horizon House in Seattle in 2009, and Bob became the “artist in residence,” helping illustrate resident newsletters and wall spaces. He continued skiing into his 80s and golfing well into his 90s. Martha passed away in 2015; following her death, Bob became co-chair for the Horizon House philanthropy committee for 2016 and 2017. Bob passed unexpectedly but peacefully in his sleep on July 29, 2017.