Bob Chitester was Founder and Chairman of the Board of Free To Choose^® Network, a 501(c)(3) organization, housing Free To Choose Media, an award-winning, global entertainment company which produces and distributes thought-provoking public television programs and series; izzit.org^®, an educational initiative that creates video-focused teaching units for an extensive network of K-college educators; and Capitaf, the summer home of Milton and Rose Friedman which now serves as a destination for week-long student colloquiums to advance human well-being through free-market capitalism.

In 1977, Chitester and economist Milton Friedman undertook a film project which became Free To Choose, an award-winning PBS television series. The internationally best-selling book, Free to Choose, was based on the series and enjoyed sales in the millions. More than 30 years later, the series and book are still widely used and have been profoundly influential.

Chitester enjoyed more than 50 years of experience in television management and program development. In the mid-1990s, working with TCI in Denver, CO, Chitester created Issues USA, a nightly half-hour program whose alumni includes: David Asman, Eric Burns, and Douglas Kennedy, currently regulars on the Fox Cable News Channel, Jonathan Karl of ABC News, and Richard Lowry, editor of National Review.

Chitester also created Stossel in the Classroom and The Idea Channel^®, a library of more than 200 video recordings of intellectual discussions with the world's leading scholars, including 16 Nobel Prize recipients, such as Friedrich von Hayek, James Buchanan, Christian de Duve, Norman Borlaug, and Charles Townes, plus other notables including George P. Shultz, Walter Williams, Walter Wriston, and more recently Senior Federal Appeals Court Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg.

More than 500 projects have been launched through Free To Choose Media under Chitester’s orchestration, ranging from documentaries, cable series, and home video programs, many of which can be viewed under our media section.

Recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Libertarians, Chitester also received a number of awards from various organizations, including the Sir Antony Fisher Lifetime Achievement Award from Atlas Network and the 2016 Blinking Lights Award from the Foundation for Economic Education.

Chitester earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Michigan. He also holds an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Allegheny College, and received Northwood University’s highest honor: Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa, for his “long and impactful contributions to freedom and free enterprise.”

On May 8, 2021, Chitester passed away after a seven-year battle with cancer.