Robert Lawrence Treadway, 73, of Matawan, passed away Monday the 26^th of August.

Robert was born in Jersey City on September 23^rd, 1950 and raised in Riverhead Long Island by his late aunt and uncle, Robert and Susie Brown whom adopted him. They also wanted him also to adopt their Brown family name, but he declined. He loved being a Treadway. He consistently stayed at the top of his class from elementary school to high school. He graduated top of his class, he was first chair on the band and orchestra and captain of the basketball team. After graduating from Riverhead High School, Robert attended the United States Coast Guard Academy, and while in the coast guard he saw the world. He stayed active in sports and was still captain of the basketball team. Following the Coast Guard, he decided to pursue his dream of music. He went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music and then later attended Juilliard. He went on to meet many of the big names in music from Cissy Houston to James Brown and George Benson. He knew Whitney Houston as a child. He also worked with Hall and Oats arranging songs such as Sara Smile. He was constantly performing at music venues, and later cashing out thousand dollar checks in the 70s, walking around NYC, with his all white 3-piece suit. However, he saw the good and the ugly in the music industry and was inspired in 1978 to join the Worldwide Church of God, and was baptized again into Christ in 1979. He met the woman who would become his wife Deatra Smith in the same year and they later married in 1982. Robert was active in the church as the choir director and was ordained as a Deacon. He loved singing songs and hymns to the Lord. Robert loved God with all his heart. Following their marriage he went back to study Electrical Engineering at City College, back when it was free. He graduated in 1986. He was hired to AT&T who helped him attend Columbia for his masters, graduating in 1987. His fellow church members would say you are the only one who made it after getting married. He had his first son David in 1989 while working in Massachusetts. Later he then went back to Columbia again graduating in 2001 with his professional degree. Robert taught Mathematics at the Sojourn High School, located in the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center in Newark, NJ. Robert also taught Mathematics at Brookdale Community College while working his entire career at AT&T, retiring in 2019.

Robert loved traveling. AT&T frequented him traveling almost as much as the Coast Guard. With trips to Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and many states. However, he loved Florida the most and purchased property in Fort Lauderdale. He was a sports fan when not working, which was almost never leading up to his passing, he was an avid Giants, Knicks, and Yankees fan. Outside of gospel music his favorite is jazz music, nut only the songs without words he hated the innuendos he worked on before, saying one thing and meaning something else. Robert loved a good steak and would only go to a certain place to get it. And he was stubborn, he only went to a handful of restaurants much to the dismay of his son and wife. He also loved ice cream, organic of course, nicknamed the organic king by his son’s friends when he was younger but that didn’t stop him from ending every dinner meal with a cold bowl of ice cream. He loved old tv shows because he always said the new shows are too crass and dark. He studied the bible daily. Following Jesus was his lifestyle and if anything could potentially separate him from the vision the Lord sent him, he absolutely rejected it.

Robert is proceeded by his grandmother Gladys who left us in 2005, his aunt Mary Mack, mother Barbara Jackson who left us in 2022, his brother Jonathon Green who left us in 2023. Robert is survived by his loving wife Deatra; his son Robert David Treadway and his wife Diana and grandson Luis Perez; his brother Ollie Brown, his sister Cynthia Milton; his nephew Gabriel Green and his niece Shani Warren and husband Fernando and hosts of family and friends, who loved him just as dearly.

Visitation will be Friday September 6^th from 10:00-11:00 AM at the Holmdel Funeral Home, 26 S. Holmdel Rd, Holmdel NJ, 07733. A service will be offered at the funeral home at 11:00 AM. A burial will follow at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery.