GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Herman Street became Office Roberts Way on May 11, as Glen Ridge officials and the Glen Ridge Police Department renamed the roadway in honor of Officer Charles “Rob” Roberts. Roberts was a longtime officer in the GRPD until he died from COVID-19 last May; at the borough council meeting the night before, the council commemorated the renaming with the 69th resolution of the year, matching Roberts’ badge number.
“Officer Charles Roberts defined the word hero,” GRPD Officer Joe Uliano said at the ceremony. “I have received many awards, commendations and praise, many of which were earned with Rob as my backup. Or shall I say, I was his backup. Rob was always, and always will be, the best cop.”
Roberts’ wife, Alice, presented the first annual Officer Charles E. Roberts Civilian Service Award to Eli Fellis and Dorothy Waldt.
Fellis volunteered for the Montclair campaign Shield Our Heroes, working in an assembly line to make face shields for front-line workers at the onset of the pandemic last year. The group made and delivered 15,000 shields for 30 hospitals, including Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge and University Hospital in Newark.
Waldt spearheaded Glen Ridge Congregational Church’s care package initiative last year. The church gathered donations of snacks, energy drinks and thank-you notes to deliver to medical workers at hospitals. They gave 7,107 care packages to local medical workers in 67 days.
“I want to thank everyone who is here for the support you’ve given me and my family during the past year,” Alice Roberts said at the event. “It shows that what you give is what you get. I just can’t thank you enough. The words ‘thank you’ don’t really suffice, but I do want to thank you.”
GRPD Chief Sean Quinn spoke at the ceremony as well; this marked his first public event as the new head of the department. Quinn and Roberts met before Quinn became a police officer; Quinn was in college, and the two men were working as recreation counselor chaperones at a dance for middle school students.
“I was in awe of how much he loved being a police officer and how proud he was to wear the uniform,” Quinn said. “I spoke at length with him about his duties and his responsibilities as a police officer, and he portrayed nothing but positivity and exuberance. He even showed me some defensive tactic moves, quickly placing me into an armlock to show off in front of the other chaperones.”
Quinn said Roberts was influential in his decision to become a police officer.
“What I saw in him was a fun-loving, happy, proud person,” he said. “Once I started working with Rob, I realized he embodied even more characteristics than those that I saw the first time I met him. After working both beside him and later as his supervisor, I noticed that Rob was the type of police officer that I always strived to be.”
After the street sign was unveiled, Officer Christopher Grogan drove Roberts’ Jeep down the street with Roberts’ children, Shea, Natalie and Gavin, inside, while the rest of the family and Glen Ridge residents walked behind it to inaugurate the new Officer Roberts Way. The street is where GRPD headquarters is located.
“Rob was funny, compassionate, approachable, modest, lighthearted and also a shoulder to cry on in times of need,” Quinn said. “He was proud not only of the man that he was, but also of his family and the community where he lived and served. He was the type of person who followed through on anything he said he was going to do. Rob was an integral part of this police department, as well as the entire borough. He touched the lives of so many. I could go on for days with stories about Rob, because he made such an impression on me, as well as everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He made work fun. We honor him by trying to be those qualities that we loved and respected about him. By doing so, he will always be with us.”
Photos by Amanda Valentovic
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