“Bicycle Bob” Silverman of Montreal, Canada, credited by many as the founding father of Montreal’s strong cycling culture is dead.
Robert Silverman died on 20 February, aged 88.
For decades, Robert Silverman was a larger-than-life figure in Montreal, theatrically defending countless causes — but none with more reverberations than his bike activism.
“Bicycle Bob,” as he was known in the 70s, 80s and beyond, found novel ways to make his point that cycling should be safer and easier, and — long before climate activism — that bikes could be embraced to everyone’s benefit.
Robert Silverman founded the group Le Monde à Bicyclette in 1975 and together, they held the first-ever “die-in” protests, where they’d squirt ketchup on themselves and lie as a group in the road, pretend to be accident victims.
Robert Silverman hand-painted bike lanes on city streets to draw attention to his cause, reportedly once getting arrested for it.
Robert Silverman famously dressed up as a Moses of Montreal to demand that the transit authority “part the St. Lawrence” for cyclists by letting them over the bridge to the South Shore with their bikes.
Robert Silverman’s cause of death was not given but considering his age, it is believed that he died of natural causes.