Have y'all heard about Robert Peace?
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A Talented One
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Robert Peace was a 30-year-old brother who was a Yale University graduate and an almost straight-A student in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. He was killed in 2011 apparently over drugs. He was dealing marijuana. It's sad how a brother like this couldn't leave the streets behind. Anyway, one of his roommates at Yale has written a book about his life which has just come out.
Here is the beginning of a story that came out soon after his death.
Wherever he went, Robert Peace was a star.
His intellect and athletic skill carried him from the modest apartment he shared with his mother in Orange, to the halls of Newark’s venerable St. Benedict’s Academy, where he won the schools highest honor, and then to Yale University where he graduated with a degree in molecular biochemistry.
Even when he was shot to death in a Newark house Wednesday, police say, he was not your garden variety drug dealer.
The 30 year-old Yale scientist was using his knowledge of biochemistry to bring in $1,000 a day selling marijuana grown in the basement of the Smith Street home where he was killed, said law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Chief Anthony Ambrose of the Essex County prosecutor’s office, said the investigation was continuing. "It appears he might have been involved in the drug trade," he said. "We don’t know yet."
The two officials said they believe Peace was working in concert with one of his former St. Benedict’s classmates, Devin Carroll, who was arrested shortly after Peace was found. Police seized about 25 pounds of marijuana from the home, according to the officials, who described the residence as a "growhouse" for marijuana.
Materials found at the crime scene may have been used to grow marijuana indoors, possibly through a hydroponics system, a soiless method of growing the drug, according to the officials, adding that indoor grow sites typically remain "below the radar," invisible to police.
The officials did not know if Peace or Carroll was the one responsible for growing the marijuana, but said Peace was turning a profit from it. Peace paid Carroll $400 a month to rent the apartment, officials said but they did not know if he also lived there.
No one has been charged with the killing, and the officials did not say if authorities are eyeing any suspects.
As far as anyone knew, Peace had always been the very image of all-around excellence.
A popular scholar-athlete, Peace received St. Benedict’s highest student honor, the President’s Award for Scholarship, Leadership and Activities, after combining academic achievement with star status on the varsity water polo team and leadership in student government. After graduating from Yale in 2002, he returned to St. Benedict’s the following year to teach biology, leaving voluntarily, in 2007, telling some he planned to attend graduate school.
Word of Peace’s death stunned members of the Yale and St. Benedict’s communities, who described him as an unusually gifted student and charismatic leader.
"In a community of bright people, Rob stood out as one of the warmest, most intelligent, and most loyal people I knew," Bradley D. Shy, who was Peace’s roommate for two years at Yale, wrote in an e-mail to The Star-Ledger. "He would do almost anything to support his friends. I will always remember this about him. I’m devastated by what has occurred."
A Yale teammate, Andy Lewandowski, was dismayed to hear that Peace may have been involved in the drug trade. "It's not something I would have expected," he said.
Harvey Goldblatt, the administrator in charge of campus life at Yale’s Pierson College, one of a dozen residential campuses where undergraduates lived, sent a group e-mail on Saturday announcing Peace’s shooting death, without further mention of the circumstances.
"I truly am devastated by this tragedy, as I’m sure you all are," Goldblatt wrote. Goldblatt included a statement Peace made when he received his bachelor of science degree from Yale nearly a decade earlier:
"A Yale education encompasses more than classes; it is the experience that has better prepared me for life," Goldblatt quoted Peace as stating. "I would like to thank all the people who supported me in this endeavor; and I dedicate this moment to my motivation and heart, my mother."
More here: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/killed_in_apparent_drug-relate.html
Here is the beginning of a story that came out soon after his death.
Wherever he went, Robert Peace was a star.
His intellect and athletic skill carried him from the modest apartment he shared with his mother in Orange, to the halls of Newark’s venerable St. Benedict’s Academy, where he won the schools highest honor, and then to Yale University where he graduated with a degree in molecular biochemistry.
Even when he was shot to death in a Newark house Wednesday, police say, he was not your garden variety drug dealer.
The 30 year-old Yale scientist was using his knowledge of biochemistry to bring in $1,000 a day selling marijuana grown in the basement of the Smith Street home where he was killed, said law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Chief Anthony Ambrose of the Essex County prosecutor’s office, said the investigation was continuing. "It appears he might have been involved in the drug trade," he said. "We don’t know yet."
The two officials said they believe Peace was working in concert with one of his former St. Benedict’s classmates, Devin Carroll, who was arrested shortly after Peace was found. Police seized about 25 pounds of marijuana from the home, according to the officials, who described the residence as a "growhouse" for marijuana.
Materials found at the crime scene may have been used to grow marijuana indoors, possibly through a hydroponics system, a soiless method of growing the drug, according to the officials, adding that indoor grow sites typically remain "below the radar," invisible to police.
The officials did not know if Peace or Carroll was the one responsible for growing the marijuana, but said Peace was turning a profit from it. Peace paid Carroll $400 a month to rent the apartment, officials said but they did not know if he also lived there.
No one has been charged with the killing, and the officials did not say if authorities are eyeing any suspects.
As far as anyone knew, Peace had always been the very image of all-around excellence.
A popular scholar-athlete, Peace received St. Benedict’s highest student honor, the President’s Award for Scholarship, Leadership and Activities, after combining academic achievement with star status on the varsity water polo team and leadership in student government. After graduating from Yale in 2002, he returned to St. Benedict’s the following year to teach biology, leaving voluntarily, in 2007, telling some he planned to attend graduate school.
Word of Peace’s death stunned members of the Yale and St. Benedict’s communities, who described him as an unusually gifted student and charismatic leader.
"In a community of bright people, Rob stood out as one of the warmest, most intelligent, and most loyal people I knew," Bradley D. Shy, who was Peace’s roommate for two years at Yale, wrote in an e-mail to The Star-Ledger. "He would do almost anything to support his friends. I will always remember this about him. I’m devastated by what has occurred."
A Yale teammate, Andy Lewandowski, was dismayed to hear that Peace may have been involved in the drug trade. "It's not something I would have expected," he said.
Harvey Goldblatt, the administrator in charge of campus life at Yale’s Pierson College, one of a dozen residential campuses where undergraduates lived, sent a group e-mail on Saturday announcing Peace’s shooting death, without further mention of the circumstances.
"I truly am devastated by this tragedy, as I’m sure you all are," Goldblatt wrote. Goldblatt included a statement Peace made when he received his bachelor of science degree from Yale nearly a decade earlier:
"A Yale education encompasses more than classes; it is the experience that has better prepared me for life," Goldblatt quoted Peace as stating. "I would like to thank all the people who supported me in this endeavor; and I dedicate this moment to my motivation and heart, my mother."
More here: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/killed_in_apparent_drug-relate.html
Comments
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This is his yearbook picture from Yale.
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I heard his story on NPR
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molecular biophysician's die everydayy b
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Nah i dont know any robert's
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His ? ? up his own future
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Drugs will forever be the downfall of people who get involved with them.
Dude threw everything away over some damn plants, I'm not even mad...I'm disappointed. -
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Can't feel bad for him....
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This is sad. He was already set so it's hard to imagine what led him to that.
He seemed like he was a great bright person. People make mistakes all the time, sucks it had to be him. -
This is sad. He was already set so it's hard to imagine what led him to that.
He seemed like he was a great bright person. People make mistakes all the time, sucks it had to be him.
He made his choice....he of all ppl didn't have to sell drugs... Homie prolly saw Breaking Bad and had an epiphany -
Elzo69Revolutions wrote: »This is sad. He was already set so it's hard to imagine what led him to that.
He seemed like he was a great bright person. People make mistakes all the time, sucks it had to be him.
He made his choice....he of all ppl didn't have to sell drugs... Homie prolly saw Breaking Bad and had an epiphany
This is true. At the same time people's choices are shaped by their environment, and so it is too simple to leave it there. -
Lol@Breaking BadElzo69Revolutions wrote: »This is sad. He was already set so it's hard to imagine what led him to that.
He seemed like he was a great bright person. People make mistakes all the time, sucks it had to be him.
He made his choice....he of all ppl didn't have to sell drugs... Homie prolly saw Breaking Bad and had an epiphany
We really don't know what was going on with him personally to make him take that route. Maybe he had cancer, mental illness or something. People are not really alway how they appear to be.
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A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I don't feel sadness, kinda disgusted.
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Y'all sound ridiculous alcohol is more of a drug than weed is
There's gotta be more to this story, I strongly doubt he got shot over just weed anyway -
Sad.
'Scust at Reagan, other crackas, spiccs, and rappers.
Glad I didn't grow up to feel selling drugs and being a ? r synonymous -
That's very insensitive, don't you think? What if it was your family? People get caught up in the wrong things all the time for whatever reason.babelipsss wrote: »A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I don't feel sadness, kinda disgusted.
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Some people like selling drugs
Is that hard to grasp -
^^^gotdamn @ your 2 stars
I feel more accomplished now Winning! B-) -
This ? was getting a thousand a day.... Thats 7gs a week....
And thats not including his actual job. Homie was excellence. -
^^^gotdamn @ your 2 stars
I feel more accomplished now Winning! B-)
Each one of my nuts is a star
Do you like milky ways? -
Here is a link to the book, which is getting a lot of good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Short-Tragic-Life-Robert-Peace/dp/147673190X
On Amazon there is a review of the book by Michelle Alexander. Here is an excerpt:Robert did not want to leave anyone behind. Above all things, he was loyal. He was loyal to his father who was serving time in prison for murder. He was loyal to his family, to his friends, to his neighborhood. He did not want to go on ahead. He wanted to make it with them, and be one of them. If he was going to make it big, he wanted it to make it with the people he loved.
But we, as a society, will not allow for that. Only a chosen few are allowed to escape from the ‘hood, and when they have their chance to make a break for it, they’re supposed to do it alone. They’re supposed to run away from their old neighborhood, away from their old friends, and become someone new—someone who likes socializing with other Ivy Leaguers and chatting about vacation destinations, private schools, and career paths. But that wasn’t Robert. Robert preferred to eat with the cafeteria workers rather than with his classmates at Yale. He felt he belonged to them. He didn’t respect or admire the over-privileged, spoiled kids at Yale; he resented them. He did not want to become them. He was open-hearted and able to make friends with anyone – and he did make many friends at Yale – but who he really loved, who he really cared about, could be found in his old neighborhood. He knew who he was when he came home; everything else was foreign, everywhere else he was fronting.
If there was some path to great “success” that could’ve included his old friends and his old world – one that did not require him to abandon his core identity and all that mattered most – I believe Robert would be alive today. I cannot prove this. And I will confess that my views are influenced by the young people that I have mentored over the years, young folks that I’ve tried to persuade to leave the ‘hood but wouldn’t or couldn’t. I remember once talking with other mentors about how frustrated we were that so many kids “kept returning to the block” or “kept running with the same crowd” when opportunity existed elsewhere. But now I see that the impulse to return and to leave no one behind – not childhood friends, not aunts or cousins or uncles – may reflect more virtue than vice. It might be love. That is not to say that Robert did not have major flaws. We all do. But something more than character flaws killed him. -
Lol@Breaking BadElzo69Revolutions wrote: »This is sad. He was already set so it's hard to imagine what led him to that.
He seemed like he was a great bright person. People make mistakes all the time, sucks it had to be him.
He made his choice....he of all ppl didn't have to sell drugs... Homie prolly saw Breaking Bad and had an epiphany
We really don't know what was going on with him personally to make him take that route. Maybe he had cancer, mental illness or something. People are not really alway how they appear to be.
A little hypocritical my feline friend -
What a loss
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I hadn't heard of him until now..his is definitely a sad story
