I lost my old friend Robert Eades to COVID-19 today.
Robert was one of a kind. He was “Bobbie” to most of Annapolis, but to his closest friends, he was always “Robert”. Robert was a serious and dignified man. Not a person to be trifled with.
Robert was flawed, as are we all. But he will now join his two buddies, Pip Moyer and Zastrow Simms, who also made their fair share of mistakes, but who were always there to speak out for those who didn’t have a voice.
Robert owned the Neet-N-Klean Cab Company and he had to scrape by every day of his life. Robert fought hard for everything he ever got, and sometimes he broke the rules. He never asked for pity or permission.
But a more honest man I never met. Robert was the conscience of Annapolis for a quarter century. He didn’t care what others thought about his past or his language, the clothes he wore, or his aggressive style. What he cared about was the truth. And he told it like he saw it.
Robert was, in his own crazy way, a real player. Every Democrat who ever won an election, from Al Hopkins, to Mike Busch, to Gavin Buckley did so with the help of Robert. He worked his ass off in every election. And when Robert showed up at your door and said, “Get in the van, Son, we’re gonna go vote,” you sure as hell got in the van.
So, when Robert came down to a City Council meeting on a Monday night, as he did well over a hundred times over the course of many, many years, the powerful listened. And they listened not just because they owed him that much respect, but more importantly, because they knew that whatever he said was true. There was no BS when Robert spoke, and he didn’t care whose toes he stepped on. He told you what you damn well needed to hear.
Robert wanted the elected officials and the public to know there were lots of problems in their historic storybook town: police brutality, unfair hiring practices, homelessness, drug addiction, shameful public housing, abandoned black youth, and unequal pay. When Robert approached the microphone in the Council chambers, you always knew you were in for a show. He stood bravely before the cameras and he told it like it was. And while there was always a devilish smile on his face, there was also, right below the surface, the barely checked anger and majesty of a lion.
Robert Eades was a fearless man who spoke for the poor of Annapolis. He rocked the fancy boats. He pointed at elected leaders and said, “You need to step up and do more!”
The last time I saw Robert, was right before he caught the virus. He was with his dear friend Curtis Spencer and they were loading meals into his cab with the help of Bumper Moyer, to take to families who were hungry. Here was a man with diabetes, high blood pressure, and a delicate heart condition, delivering food to the poorest folks in Annapolis. And that’s probably how he caught the virus.
Robert Eades, a man with very little material wealth, gave and gave to those with less, until he had nothing more to give. And then he died. He can never be replaced. But he should always be remembered as the one man in Annapolis who never stopped reminding us that we could do better.
