Robert Walton was the first person in his family to be born in the United States. He grew up in Newark and went to Lincoln Elementary School, Silva Junior High, and Newark Memorial High School. He went to college at Harvard University, spent a year as a Rotary Club Scholar at Durham University in England, and graduated from the Boston University School of Law.

While in high school and law school, Rob served as president of the school’s student government and participated in the political process throughout his life. He loved history and books and wrote his college thesis on Theodore Roosevelt and organized labor.

He was drawn to Washington, DC, where he lived with Jessica, his wife of 20 years, had a distinguished career as an attorney, and served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Deltek, Inc., a software company in Reston, Virginia.

Rob was an avid music fan and enjoyed listening to jazz in small clubs as much as he did seeing U2, Paul McCartney, or The Who perform in large stadium-sized arenas. He was equally passionate about theater, having participated in school plays and, later, in acting workshops and community theater. He remained an ardent supporter of the arts, serving on the board of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC and regularly attending plays in Washington, New York, and London.

Rob was an enthusiastic traveler and not a year passed without a significant trip abroad, with England, and London in particular, a favorite destination. His many varied interests together with his remarkable ability to connect with others, sense of humor, generosity, and kindness comprise the bedrock of his enduring legacy.