Bob Lusital (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Bob Lusital is a minor character in the comic Blood Over Water, who hands down control of Sleet Mountain to Clyde Spendelworth.

Character bio
Little is known about Bob, except that he took over control of Sleet Mountain from his father Richard Lusital in the 1970s. He tried in the early 2000s to retire. However, his retirement fund dried up when he had to implement several new features at the plant to comply with new EPA regulations. Even then, the company's single largest financial setback was in the area of its waste disposal. Cleanup procedures that the EPA demanded of Bob made his Lower Northern plant in particular a heavy financial liability, and his company began operating in the red for many years. It was during this time that Gleeful-N'-Young pimp Clyde Spendelworth, hiding his true affiliations, presented himself to Bob and they became friends. Clyde proved to be very effective at cutting costs, though the company was still operating in the red. Bob eventually regained enough of his retirement pension saving to retire for real, in August of 2009. He decided to hand over partial control of the company to Clyde, mistakenly believing that Clyde meant only what was best for everyone.

Bob gave his final speech during a company party held for employees at Crooked Lake in northern Michigan. He then left in his limousine for a retired life. However, Clyde didn't want Bob to stop in and discover the illegal activities that were being planned for Sleet Mountain in Bob's absence. Therefore, Clyde sent escaped mental patient and skilled assassin George Lawence after Bob's limo. Bob and his chauffeur were never seen again. It is presumed that George cut them off on the road at some point, shot them both dead, then went to work quickly on disposing of the evidence.

Personality
Bob is a bubbly, cheery soul who can at times be clueless as to what is really going on around him. As such, others frequently take advantage of him. He does not know that Clyde and George mean to murder him. He also doesn't even notice when Chris and Mark smuggle Aaron aboard a boat that was intended only to be used for the company party and its actual employees - let alone that Mark and Chris intend to use the company boat to pick up women at another beach party elsewhere on the lake. He speaks in a slow, stuttered voice, implying that he may have had a minor stroke some time before his introduction in the story. He likes to dress formally for public occasions - even when he is at risk of overheating. He also believes he's never too old to start life anew. He considers retirement from Sleet Mountain to be a "new beginning" for him. This is ironic, because it is the end of his life.

Development
Bob was first put definitively into the story in mid-February of 2013; as a way of adding a Macbeth-style spin to how Clyde become the CEO of Sleet Mountain - as well as basing a lot of his operations in the Lower Northern plant (inspired by the Stanwood Ice Mountain bottling plant that was the villain in the original script for Blood Over Water: The Miniseries.) Bob was placed in the Duncan role, although Clyde was established to have been evil to begin with. He was established early-on to be an old, sickly man who was long past due for retirement.

This allusion to senility would have made it more understandable as to why he would have mistaken Clyde for somebody noble. His last name was intended as a pun, while he and his father's first names were also meant as a joke. Richard "Dick" Lusital and his son Robert were "Dick and Bob," implying there were always meant to be generic. The "Lusital" surname was intended as a pun, since he gets to "lose it all" when he is murdered by George Lawence.

By February of 2014, the second chapter "Going over Priorities" was written to the novel. This chapter revealed Bob to also be prone to sweating profusely. He was given a speech impediment, implying he may have had a minor stroke some time before. Also that same month, he was made available for download for what is now The Sims 3 at DzMD.

Trivia

 * Bob's name is a pun. He gets to "loose it all," as Clyde Spendelworth gets to "spend all worth," as in squander the corporate kingdom that Bob built.  Clyde's actions destroy Sleet Mountain, and Bob loses everything - including his life!
 * Bob's AI art features in the Wonder AI showcase video The Gerosha Chronicles, According to an AI from November of 2022.