Robert Bigelow

This article is about the hotel and aerospace entrepreneur. For the basketball player, see Bob Bigelow.

Robert Bigelow
Bigelow in 2011
Born	Robert Thomas Bigelow (1944-05-12) May 12, 1944 (age 80)
Education	University of Nevada, Reno Arizona State University, Tempe (BA)
Occupation	Businessman
Spouse	Diane Mona Grammy ​ ​ (m. 1965; died 2020)​
Children	2

Robert Thomas Bigelow^[1][2] (born May 12, 1944) is an American businessman. He owns Budget Suites of America and is the founder of Bigelow Aerospace.^[3][4]

Bigelow has provided financial support for investigations of UFOs and parapsychological topics, including the continuation of consciousness after death.^[5]

Early life

Bigelow grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, attended Highland Elementary School, and was first exposed to science through a number of the nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada National Security Site, about 70 miles (100 km) northwest of the city.^[6]

He enrolled in the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1962 to study banking and real estate, and he graduated from Arizona State University in 1967.^[7]

Career

Real estate

From the late 1960s^[7] through the 1990s, Bigelow developed commercial real estate hotels, motels and apartments.^[8]

In his real estate career, Bigelow built approximately 15,000 units and purchased another 8,000. For most of his career, "he held on to almost everything he bought, but ... eventually unload[ed] much of his housing stock in the boom years immediately before the 2008 crash". In 2013, Bigelow reflected on this: "People just really wanted to throw money away, so that was lucky."^[7]

Budget Suites of America

Bigelow owns Budget Suites of America, an extended-stay apartment chain founded in 1987.^[9] It caters to budget travelers needing to stay for an extended period. Its rooms are primarily suites featuring a full kitchen. Budget Suites owns three hotels in Phoenix, Arizona; five in Las Vegas, Nevada; ten in Dallas, Texas; and one in San Antonio, Texas.^[10]

Aerospace

In 1999, Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace.^[11]

Bigelow had indicated he planned to spend up to US$500 million to develop the first commercial space station with a goal of the station costing 33% of the US$1.5 billion that NASA expended on a single Space Shuttle mission.^[12][13] Bigelow Aerospace has launched two experimental space modules, Genesis I in 2006 and Genesis II in 2007, and had planned for full-scale space habitats to be used as orbital hotels, research labs and factories.^[14]

In 2013, Bigelow indicated that the reason he went into the commercial real estate business was to obtain the requisite resources to be able to fund a team developing space destinations.^[8] In October 2017, Bigelow announced that he planned to put an inflatable "space hotel" into orbit by 2022.^[15] The plan was part of a partnership with United Launch Alliance, and the project was estimated to cost US$2.3 billion in total. The cost of a 3-day stay in this spatial hotel was estimated at 5 million dollars.^[16]

In April 2016, Bigelow's BEAM module was launched to the International Space Station^[8] on the eighth SpaceX cargo resupply mission.^[17]

In March 2020, Bigelow Aerospace laid off all 88 members of staff and halted operations after over 20 years of business, in a move that was partially caused by the coronavirus pandemic.^[18]

In March 2021, he sued NASA for US$1.05 million, alleging he was not paid according to contract for product testing and development.^[19]

Anomalies research

In 1995, Bigelow founded the National Institute for Discovery Science to fund the research and study of various fringe sciences and paranormal topics, most notably ufology.^[20] The organization researched cattle mutilation and black triangle reports, ultimately attributing the latter to secretive advanced aircraft operated by the military.^[21] The institute was disbanded in 2004.

In 1996, Bigelow purchased Skinwalker Ranch, a 512-acre (205 ha) cattle ranch located in Utah that is the site of purported paranormal phenomena, such as inter-dimensional shape-shifters,^[22] for $200,000. In 2016, Bigelow sold the ranch to Brandon Fugal for $4 million.^[23]

In December 2017, Bigelow was reported by the New York Times to have urged Senator Harry Reid to initiate what became the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a government study which operated from 2007 to 2012 tasked with the study of UFOs.^[24][25] According to the New York Times, Bigelow said he was “absolutely convinced” that extraterrestrial life exists and that extraterrestrials have visited Earth.^[26]

Consciousness studies

In June 2020, Bigelow founded the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS) to support investigations into life after death.^[5] In January 2021, the institute put up an award of US$1 million asking for essays arguing for existence of a life after death.^[27] The institute awarded the first-place $500,000 prize to Jeffrey Mishlove, the second-place prize to Pim van Lommel, and the third-place prize to Leo Ruickbie.^[28]

Personal life

On February 4, 1965, he married Diane Mona Grammy (April 9, 1947 – February 19, 2020) of Camden, New Jersey.^[29][5]

They had two children together, Robert Michael "Bobby" Bigelow, and Rod Lee Bigelow.^[29] In 1992, Rod Lee Bigelow died by suicide, aged 24.^[30] In 2011, Robert Bigelow's grandson, Rod Lee Bigelow II, died by suicide, having suffered from drug addiction.^[30]

Diane Bigelow died on February 19, 2020, of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).^[29][5]

Political contributions

Bigelow has made political donations to conservative Republican candidates.^[31][32] In July 2022, he donated $10 million to Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, which was the single biggest donation of his re-election bid.^[33][34] Bigelow has contributed over $25 million^[35] to groups and causes supporting Joe Lombardo's candidacy for governor of Nevada. Campaign finance experts believe this may be the most a single donor has spent on a statewide race in modern history.^[36] In January 2024 he stated in an interview that he had donated to Donald Trump, "I gave him $1 million towards his legal fees a few weeks ago. I made a promise to give him $20 million more, that will be to the super PAC….” ^[37]

References

1. "Las Vegas High School Alumni Association: Robert Thomas Bigelow - Class of 1962" (PDF).
2. "Nevada Marriage Index". FamilySearch.
3. Pat (February 11, 2007). "Money Backing the Private Space Industry... Part 3--Robert Bigelow". The Space Monitor (blog).
4. Ewalt, David M. (June 8, 2011). "Cosmic Landlord". Forbes. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
5. Blumenthal, Ralph (January 24, 2021). "Buying a peek at the hereafter". New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
6. Mezrich, Ben (2016). The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth Behind America's UFO Highway. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-5011-3552-1 – via Google Books.
7. Higginbotham, Adam (May 2, 2013). "Robert Bigelow plans a real estate empire in space". BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
8. Robison, Jennifer (March 10, 2013). "Nevadan at work: To the moon and beyond for Las Vegas developer". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
9. Hennigan, W. J. (November 26, 2010). "NASA pushes for a green jetliner". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
10. "Budget Suites of America". www.budgetsuites.com. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
11. De Keyser, Sigurd (June 4, 2006). "Bigelow Aerospace; Russian Dnepr rocket to launch a 1/3-scale Genesis model". Space Fellowship News. International Space Fellowship. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
12. space.com
13. Belfiore, Michael (2007). Rocketeers: how a visionary band of business leaders, engineers and pilots is boldly privatizing space. New York: Smithsonian Books. p. [1]. ISBN 978-0-06-114903-0.
14. Malik, Tariq; David, Leonard (June 28, 2007). "Bigelow's second orbital module launches into space". Space.com. Purch. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
15. Haslet, Emma (October 19, 2017). "Beware Vermicious Knids: A US billionaire wants to launch an inflatable space hotel into lunar orbit by 2022". City AM.
16. Mark Whittington, Will a space hotel actually be open for business in 2027?, Thehill.com, 14 March 2021
17. Northon, Karen, ed. (April 8, 2016). "NASA Cargo Headed to Space Station Includes Habitat Prototype, Medical Research". NASA. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
18. "Bigelow Aerospace lays off entire workforce". SpaceNews. March 23, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
19. Duncan Phenix, Robert Bigelow comments on $1.05 million lawsuit against NASA, 8newsroom.com, 30 March 2021
20. Dorio, Mark (2005). Ufology: A Very Short Introduction. Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford. ISBN 1-4120-6473-2.
21. David, Leonard (September 2, 2004). "Silent Running: 'Black Triangle' Sightings on the Rise". Space.com. Retrieved June 30, 2007.
22. Ewalt, David M. "Cosmic Landlord". Forbes. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
23. Blumenthal, Ralph (January 21, 2021). "Robert Bigelow: Is There Life After Death?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
24. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (December 16, 2017). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". New York Times.
25. Bender, Bryan (December 16, 2017). "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs". Politico.
26. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (December 16, 2017). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
27. George Knapp, Is there life after death? Businessman offers nearly $1 million to find out, Wreg.com, 23 January 2021
28. Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (October 26, 2022). "Essay Contest - Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies". Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
29. "OBITUARY Diane Mona Bigelow". dignitymemorial.com. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
30. "Proving there is life after death, or not, could win you $500K". Toronto Sun. January 22, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
31. Harrison, Casey (October 24, 2022). "Nevada billionaire Bigelow opens wallet to back GOP causes here, across U.S." Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
32. Golonka, Sean; Snyder, Riley (October 25, 2022). "Las Vegas hotel mogul Robert Bigelow spends nearly $50 million to support Lombardo, other Republicans". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
33. Wieder, Ben (October 3, 2022). "Birth of a mega-donor: Big DeSantis check part of surge in giving by Robert Bigelow". Miami Herald. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
34. Smith, Michael; Allison, Bill (October 25, 2022). "Ron DeSantis's Biggest Donor Is a Budget Hotel Tycoon With a Passion for UFOs". Bloomberg News. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
35. Harrison, Casey (October 28, 2022). "Las Vegas billionaire in big leagues bankrolling GOP campaigns - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
36. "Top DeSantis Donor Says He'll Put Fortune Behind 2024 Bid". Time. April 21, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
37. Ulmer, Alexandra (January 30, 2024). "Exclusive: Hotelier Robert Bigelow gives Trump $1 million for legal fees". Reuters. Retrieved January 30, 2024.

Further reading

• Sheaffer, Robert (July–August 2009). "Bigelow's aerospace and saucer emporium". Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 33, no. 4.
• Kushner, David (January–February 2011). "Robert Bigelow aims high—a private fleet of space taxis". Discover. Art. no. 73. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019.

External links

• Bigelow Institute
• Robert Bigelow at IMDb