Former Lifelong Area Resident Dies at 75

Robert William Freeman, 75, of Abingdon, Md., formerly of Manalapan Township, died Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013 at Senator Bob Hooper Hospice House, Forest Hill, Maryland.

Born in Freehold, he lived in Manalapan prior to moving to Abingdon seven months ago. He attended the Freehold Borough schools, and was a 1952 graduate of Freehold High School. He also graduated from Brookdale Community College. He was a U.S. Navy veteran serving on the USS McCaffrey, and was honorably discharged on Sept. 26, 1961.

In 1962, he graduated from the Sea Girt Police Academy and began his 32 years in the law enforcement field with the Freehold Borough Police Department as a patrolman. He became the youngest Sergeant in the history of the department before joining the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office as an investigator. Bob retired from the Prosecutor's Office in 1995 as the Deputy Chief of the Investigative Division. He was employed as a Senior Traffic Analyst with the Monmouth County Engineering Department until December of 2012. Bob was a life member of P.B.A. local No. 256 and the Freehold Fire Department, and an active member of the Tin Can Sailors Association.

He was predeceased by his parents, Henry J. and Philipine Freeman; his brothers, Henry J. and Donald O. Freeman; his sister, Carol Gibson; his step-brothers, Arthur and Kenneth Larson; and his step-sister, Phyllis Larson. Surviving are his wife of 51 years, Winifred Trojan Freeman; his three children, Kathleen Iarossi Freeman, Wall Township, Robert Freeman, Towson, Maryland, and Suzanne Moro and her husband, Javier, Abingdon, Maryland; his grandchildren, Walter Paul, Tyler, Lucas, Carli, and Rachael; his siblings, Elizabeth and James Chirico, Fishkill, New York, Lillian Heffernan, Cochranton, Pennsylvania, and Walter and Cathy Freeman, South Carolina; his in-laws, Kathy and Anton Schwerthoffer, and Robert and Gail Trojan, all of Freehold, John and Vera Trojan, Dover, Delaware, Leonard Iarossi, Wall Township; and many nieces and nephews.

Relatives and friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013 at the Higgins Memorial Home, 20 Center St., Freehold. A Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13 at St. Rose of Lima Church, Freehold. Interment will follow at St. Rose of Lima Cemetery, Freehold. Donations in his memory to the Freehold Fire Department or the Senator Bob Hooper Hospice House, 207 Klein Plaza Drive, Forest Hill, MD 21050 would be appreciated.