Bob Gast was born in New York City but raised on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. He attended Taft School in Watertown, Conn., and graduated from Stanford in 1958. Bob then served for five years as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard before joining the coast guard in 1963. During his career, he was assigned to various FBI field offices throughout the U.S. and was Special Agent in Charge in Portland, Ore. and San Francisco, Calif.

When he retired from the FBI in 1987, he was Assistant Director in charge of the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C. and a member of the senior career board. Bob then served as the Director of Security for several large corporations including Nestle before retiring in the late 1990s. He is a life member of the International Security Management Association and the FBI National Executive Institute and is a past president of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.

Bob and his wife Sheila live in Reno and are the proud parents of six children and twelve grandchildren.