The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs is a biography that chronicles the life of Rob Peace, a brilliant young Black man. Raised in East Orange, a crime-ridden suburb of Newark, New Jersey, Rob overcame numerous barriers to study biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Yale University. Despite academic success and a seemingly bright future, his life was tragically cut short when he was killed in a drug-related shooting at the age of 30. As Hobbs chronicles Rob Peace’s journey, he also explores broader themes of race and class, focusing on the challenges Rob faced in achieving his potential in a society riddled with inequalities. The memoir was the runner-up for the 2015 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction and was adapted into the 2024 movie Rob Peace.

This guide uses the 2014 eBook edition published by Scribner.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, substance use, mental illness, death, and pregnancy loss. 

Summary

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace is written by Rob’s former Yale roommate, Jeff Hobbs, who pieces together Rob’s life story based on the accounts of those who knew him.

Born in 1980, Robert DeShaun Peace grew up in East Orange, a suburb of Newark, New Jersey. Rob’s father, Skeet Douglas, was a well-liked marijuana dealer in the poor, crime-ridden neighborhood. Rob idolized his father, who was loyal to his neighborhood and encouraged Rob to cultivate friendships there. Meanwhile, Rob’s mother, Jackie Peace, aspired for her son to move beyond Newark’s limited options, especially since he was a precocious and highly intelligent child. When Rob was seven, Skeet received a life sentence for the murder of two young women in his apartment building. Skeet claimed to be innocent of the crime. After he was jailed, Rob missed Skeet’s presence in his life.

Jackie worked long hours in hospital kitchens to afford a private school education for Rob. As a fourth grader, Rob flourished academically at his new private school. However, he realized that the people of East Orange looked down on academic success. So, upon returning home from school each day, he would shed his identity as an exceptional scholar and resume the role of Skeet’s streetwise son. At the age of 13, he began drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana with his father’s old associates.

Rob got into St. Benedict’s, a private, all-boys high school with a predominantly Black student body. Rob joined the water polo team, where he met Tavarus Hester, Drew Jemison, Flowy Starkes, and Curtis Gamble. The boys became lifelong friends and called themselves the Burger Boyz. Of the group, Curtis was the only one who came from a stable home. The Burger Boyz regularly studied together in the basement of the Gamble family’s home, 34 Smith Street. Rob, who excelled academically, helped his friends study.

After high school, Rob was admitted into Yale University. A wealthy alumnus of St. Benedict’s, Charles Cawley, offered to pay his tuition fees. Tavarus, Drew, and Curtis also got college acceptances and anticipated bright futures.

At Yale, Rob studied biochemistry and molecular biophysics. Jeff Hobbs, the memoir’s author, was one of his roommates. Unlike Rob, Hobbs was white and from a privileged background, but they developed a friendship. Rob initially held himself apart from the other students, resenting what he perceived as their elitism and entitlement. However, he became a popular figure, known for excelling at his studies while also smoking and selling marijuana. Rob bonded with other students from challenging backgrounds, such as Oswaldo Gutierrez, who was also from Newark and dealt drugs to cover his college tuition. 

After graduation, Rob had no clear plans other than a wish to travel to Rio de Janeiro. He stayed back at Yale, performing custodial duties and working in the medical school’s lab on cancer research. Finally departing for Rio, Rob left a trunk containing his life savings—$60,000 he’d made from dealing drugs—with his father’s old friend Carl, whom he considered family. However, after Rob returned from his travels, he discovered that Carl had spent all the money.

Rob moved back in with his mother and grandparents with no job or money. After briefly returning to selling marijuana, he began teaching biology at St. Benedict’s, earning his pupils’ admiration and respect. He also bought a dilapidated house as the first step in a plan to renovate and flip properties with Tavarus. Rob also worked toward securing his father’s release from jail until Skeet died of cancer. In 2005, Rob attended Jeff Hobbs’s wedding.

Rob returned to drug dealing at night while teaching at St. Benedict’s during the day. He utilized his scientific knowledge to develop a high-grade cannabis strain he named Sour Diesel; Rob used Curtis Gamble’s basement as a lab. He then quit his job at St. Benedict’s and focused on establishing Peace Realty, which was to be his house flipping business. Realizing he did not have sufficient funds to invest, he took a job at Essex County Airport as a baggage handler. Rob, now 27, used the free flights he received as an airport employee to research the property market. However, in 2007, his real estate plans were shattered when the housing bubble burst. Rob subsequently used his free flights to travel to other countries. He also exploited his job’s benefits to traffic marijuana, picking up consignments in Miami and concealing the drugs in his boots on the flights back. One day, Rob accidentally damaged a plane’s cargo bay door while working at the airport. Asked to perform a drug test, he refused and quit.

Back at 34 Smith Street, Rob and Tavarus worked on a new business plan. They hoped to revitalize the neighborhood by buying and renovating foreclosed homes and then selling them back to the city. However, the project was never realized. In December 2010, Rob began working for a drug dealer, converting marijuana to Sour Diesel. He viewed the job as a stopgap as he planned to apply to a Leadership Development Program at Johnson & Johnson, where he could work while earning a graduate degree.

The Burger Boyz embarked on another get-rich-quick plan. Curtis obtained a bulk lot of marijuana at a discount price, and Rob converted it to Sour Diesel. However, members of a rival gang began to suspect that Rob was selling drugs on their territory. On May 19, 2011, masked men from this gang forced their way into the basement of 34 Smith Street and shot 30-year-old Rob dead.

Rob’s funeral took place at the church adjoining St. Benedict’s. Over 400 mourners attended from all over the world and from all levels of society. Afterward, Hobbs heard theories on what had led to Rob’s tragic fate: Some blamed his greed, while others focused on societal inequities. Hobbs maintains that none of these encapsulated the combination of factors that affected Rob’s trajectory, including the pressures of his education and his loyalty to his community.