Bob Vitas is a native of the planet Terros, a small world on the fringes of the Inner Rim Territories, opposite the Perlemian Trade Route. Thus, Terros was virtually undiscovered until the Golden Age of the Galactic Republic was nearing its end.

The older son of hard-working parents, not bold or overly handsome, Bob nonetheless grew up wanting to learn and eager to please. His childhood was marked by the usual bumps and bruises kids get, but also by continual leaps in his intelligence and scope of knowledge. Where his brother excelled in sports and business, Bob excelled in the classroom. He also had a deep love for fantasy, and spent much of his spare time watching old horror movies on television or going to the theater to see the latest science fiction flick.

Bob also proved to be something of a gatherer, and had several collections which became renowned in his village. Coins from around the world, books of every shape and subject, and trivial information found there way into his private sanctuary. He lived to find a rare coin in his change, or obscure reference at the local library, and somehow always managed to know the most unusual facts. Bob also had a great appreciation for science, although he prefered to delve into the more obscure or unpopular subjects. He had his own telescope, but rarely saw more than Terros' pock-marked moon or the occasional comet.

After graduating second in his class at Amsterdam (N.Y.) High School, then graduating with honors from Clarkson University, he went to work for a firm which produced computer products. He got married, had two daughters, and thought life would be one boring episode after another. That was when the Galactic Republic stumbled upon Terros.

In one swift transformation, Terros became swept up in the galaxy's incredible membership. Unfortunately, it also became caught in the deadly whirlpool which precipitated the New Order's rise.

Over the next several years, Bob worked to understand everything he could about the huge galaxy around him. His knack for collecting facts allowed him to accumulate a vast store of knowledge about the planets and races which suddenly became known to the natives of Terros. In time, he had a small compendium of information that he had created. Then, the Trade Federation took notice of Terros, and things changed for the worse.

In a swift barrage of orbital bombardment and planetary operations, Federation forces took control of Terros' major governmental centers and its technology centers. In a single day, Terros went from being a free world to a tiny cog in the Federation's profit-generating machine. The primitive technology of Terros was easily adapted to the production of explosives and other artillery, but the planet did not bow without a fight. During a skirmish between the Federation's droid forces and the local militia, Bob managed to flee Terro with his wife and children by stowing away on an Federation transport.

Upon landing, Bob's family found themselves suddenly thrust into the center of Jabba the Hutt's operations on the planet Tatooine. After avoiding servitude and slavery, he found employment with the local branch of IBM - the Intergalactic Business Machine - and sought refuge with a pair of traders named Ravskel and Urza in the spaceport town of Mos Eisley. They allowed him access to the local newsfeeds, and soon he had placed his entire collection of galactic knowledge into their computer system. It was during this time that Bob learned he had an aptitude for the Force, and began formal training with the Jedi on Coruscant.

After receiving the rank of Jedi Knight, Bob returned to Mos Eisley to continue his search for knowledge. The Jedi Council granted him the freedom to travel the galaxy in search of any form of new information, provided that it be contained with the Jedi archives. Over the years, his encyclopedic reference grew in size, and would have gained intergalatic notice if not for the birth of the Empire. As a Jedi, Bob hid in the Outer Rim Territory with his family, avoiding the Jedi Purge twice by going into a deep coma-like trance and shutting down his connection to the Force. The operation in Mos Eisley was targetted several times by Imperial censors, but no formal charges were ever filed. Several times, the Mos Eisley residents were forced to hide out in order to avoid Imperial entanglement, and they managed to escape with their operations intact.

After the Battles of Yavin and Endor, and with the Imperial yoke removed, Bob returned to Tatooine and the work he had begun in Mos Eisley. His encyclopedia once again began to grow. Soon, the New Republic recognized it would someday rival that of Alliance historian Arhul Hextrephon, and they enlisted his aid in recompiling the Encyclopedia Galactica. During its writing, though, Bob prefered to avoid comparisons to the fabled reference, instead maintaining that his compilation was unofficial at best.

Bob also took a Padawan learner, shortly after the Battle of Bilbringi, in an effort to keep alive his vast encyclopedia. The Padawan was known as Keifer, and was his wife's sister's son. Keifer is well on his way to learning the Jedi arts, and both Bob and Keifer have been in contact with the Jedi praxeum on Yavin 4 regarding additional training.