Who was Robert Peace? Everything you need to know about Rob Peace movie’s subject

Rob Peace, released on August 16, 2024, is an adaptation of a 2014 biography titled The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, written by Jeff Hobbs. Robert Peace was a black American youth who tragically died at the young age of 30 in a shooting that occurred in his basement marijuana lab.

Rob Peace was directed by Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor, who also starred in the film as Robert Peace's father. Robert himself was played by Jay Will, and his mother, Jackie, was played by Mary J Blige. The film is Ejiofor's second directorial effort after the release of 2019's The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

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Rob Peace covers the story of a Yale University graduate who tragically died young

Robert Peace was heavily influenced by his father. (Image via Paramount)

Robert Peace was born on June 25, 1980, and was a native of Newark, New Jersey. His father, Skeet, was a significant influence on him growing up. Skeet was an extroverted man who had many connections to the Newark community, and had conflicting feelings about his son's prospects. He wanted him to become an academic success story, but also worried about him going "soft".

Skeet was arrested for murder when Rob Peace was only seven years old, and he would eventually be convicted of the crime. From that point onward, his mother went out of her way to ensure that Rob would receive a good education and find a life away from the streets that had seemingly claimed her husband.

Rob attended the prestigious St. Benedict's Preparatory School, where he was an academically and athletically stellar performer, graduating with a 4.0 GPA.

He then succeeded in getting admitted to Yale University, helped along by the sponsorship of Charles Cawley, a bank executive.

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Rob Peace's life was heavily affected by his father's arrest and his upbringing

Rob Peace continued to make efforts to overturn his father's conviction throughout his adult life. At Yale University, Rob Peace specialized in biochemistry and molecular biophysics, eventually joining the University's infectious diseases lab.

On the side, he also worked as a dishwasher at a diner and ran a small-scale marijuana operation. Much of his motivation for making money was managing his father's legal expenses, as he never believed his father was guilty of the murder he was convicted of, and hoped to set him free.

That was not to be, as Robert Peace's father would eventually die in prison of brain cancer. Robert himself would succeed in graduating from Yale University, but he did not pursue a further career in science, instead returning home to Newark.

There, he became a teacher at his alma mater high school, St. Benedict's. He stayed on for five years and once won the Teacher of the Year prize.

After this, he got a job as a baggage handler at the Newark Liberty International Airport, where he used his employee standby flight benefits to travel the world, including Brazil's Rio de Janeiro.

Robert would continue to drift across various careers during his lifetime, and even mentioned applying to graduate schools in the future, though he never got around to it. One of his career moves was looking for opportunities in flipping real estate, and he continued operating his marijuana dealing, which culminated in him building a weed lab in his basement.

It was in this very laboratory that he was shot dead at the age of 30. The killer has to date not been found. His roommate at Yale University, Jeff Hobbs, would be the one to write his biography in 2014.

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Rob Peace is a film adaptation of Jeff Hobbs's biography, and was released on August 2024.