Robert F. Kay, aka “Rob”, was born in Modesto, California in 1952. He began his journalism career with the San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service in 1975 with a story about a riot at a McDonald’s restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden. He subsequently worked as a newscaster and reporter in Sonora, California for radio station KVML-KROG covering topics ranging from California’s lingering drought to the local County Board of Supervisors.
Seeking more adventure, he moved to Tahiti where he bartended and wrote feature articles about nuclear testing in French Polynesia for Pacific News Service, New Pacific Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle.
His sojourn in the South Pacific included a year’s stay in Fiji and led to a contract with the Lonely Planet travel series for guides to Fiji and Tahiti. In 1986 he was the recipient of the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for his Lonely Planet Fiji Travel Survival Kit.
Wishing to expand his scope beyond travel journalism, he moved to San Francisco and worked for a public relations firm. As an early adopter of the personal computer (which he used to write his guidebooks) his familiarity with technology led to PR consulting with software companies in Silicon Valley, Arizona and Utah.
A dozen years later, his love of the tropics prompted a move to Hawaii where he currently lives and is a columnist for the Honolulu Star Advertiser. He covers topics such as travel, healthy aging, nutrition and technology. His is also the travel editor of Hawaii Reporter, a local online news publication. He has also contributed to a number of newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, San Jose Mercury-News and many others.
Rob is active with a number of nonprofit organizations and coaches students at Chaminade University in entrepreneurship. He also has a keen interest in Jungian Psychology, Buddhism, cooking and gardening.
He also manages a travel website on Fiji--fijiguide.com.
His most recent book is Suva, A History & Guide, which he co-authored with Albert Schutz.
On weekends swimming at Waikiki, practicing yoga and pulling weeds in his backyard garden where he grows fruits and vegetables.
