Bob LeChevalier

Robert (Bob) LeChevalier [Alias: la lojbab] (born 1953) is a former software systems contractor who is best known as the leader and co-founder of the constructed language, Lojban. He worked to develop the language in 1987, as an offshoot of another constructed language, Loglan, which in turn was invented by American sociologist, James Cooke Brown, in 1955. LeChevalier led Lojban’s governing body, the Logical Language Group (LLG), as President from 1988–2003 and again from 2010–2015. As of 2022, he remains a director of the LLG, a position he has held continuously since 1988.

Bob LeChevalier was born in California, USA in 1953 and obtained a B.S degree in Astrophysics in Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University. He first met James Cooke Brown in 1979, in San Diego, California, where both resided at the time. During their meeting, Brown explained to LeChevalier the rationale and design of his Loglan project, and LeChevalier was persuaded to become involved with the project, despite his prior lack of knowledge about linguistics.

In 1986, LeChevalier received approval from Brown to lead an effort to produce a new Loglan dictionary. This effort ultimately led to tensions between the two men, with Brown suspecting LeChevalier of attempting to usurp power through his actions. LeChevalier denied to Brown that he was interested in any sort of power grab, but the relations between the two men remained tense through 1986-1987.

In March 1987, LeChevalier, Nora Tansky (who would marry him later that year) and two other Loglanists proceeded to develop a new language vocabulary project, which they came to name Loglan-88 (later to become Lojban). At this time, LeChevalier and his associates were not seeking to break with the original project but wanted to test how the Loglan membership would respond to their initiative. LeChevalier hosted the second Logfest [ie. member gathering] (the first being held in 1986) in August, 1987, at his new place of residence in Fairfax, Virginia. Of the 18 Loglan members in attendance, all 18 voted in favour of a split with Brown’s main faction, although it is likely that most (LeChevalier included) did not intend for this split to become permanent. Lechevalier and Tansky were married in October of that year, exchanging wedding vows which were written in the early form of what would become Lojban.

In early 1988, LeChevalier and his group debuted Loglan-88 at the Evecon Science Fiction Convention. At this time, LeChevalier claimed to have a Loglan-88 mailing list of 300 individuals compared to Brown’s so-called ‘Afficionado’ supporters, whose number LeChevalier put at 50 members.

In March 1988, LeChevalier received a letter from Brown, asserting that he was in violation of Loglan’s trademark, which was to be registered shortly, and should he, LeChevalier, continue with his violations, he would risk being sued, quote: ‘for the recovery of profits, damages and costs, with, as you may know, the possibility of treble damages and attorney’s fees.’ Shortly following Brown’s letter, Loglan-88 was renamed Lojban (from the words logji [logic] and bangu [language]) and the newly formed governing body of the new formation, the Logical Language Group (LLG) [Lojban: la .lojbangirz.], which was founded in the previous year, now became a legally incorporated entity, with LeChevalier serving as its first President. In 1989, the LLG successfully challenged the Loglan trademark in a court of law, which was upheld in 1992, whereby Brown lost his legal appeal. This constituted a big win for the Lojban organisation and helped to garner greater credibility for their project. However, LeChevalier remarked at that time, that he felt slighted by Brown, who not only refused to speak to Lechevalier at the 1992 appeal proceedings but refused even to acknowledge his presence.

LeChevalier and his wife, Nora, adopted two children from Russia in 1992. His hobbies include genealogy, role-playing games, and reading science fiction and history and he is a moderately competent speaker of the Russian language.

Following Brown’s death from a heart attack in 2000, there was a hope between some members of both communities of a reunification process, but this hope was short-lived. In any case, Brown had written a clause into his will, that no rapprochement between the two organisations should be entered into if LeChevalier was to be involved in the process. LeChevalier, for his part, always claimed that he was strongly in favour of a reunification process between the two groups.