Obituary of Robert Lewis

Lewis, Robert .W. age 35 Born, Sept. 15, 1980 Thirty five years ago, a little boy was born. Almost from the beginning, his life was straddled with angst and hardship. His mother, almost too young to understand life herself, raised and nurtured her little boy to understand the values of love, respect, and self-sufficiency. It was difficult growing up without a father, but his mother's strength, perseverance, and unwavering devotion was imparted unto this child and soon he became a studious young man of almost limitless potential. Robert enjoyed reading and devoured every book that came across his path. He was intelligent, kind, and sincere, exactly the kind of person his proud mother had hoped he would become. Robert had many friends as it was easy to be drawn in by his charismatic smile and selfless desire to help all those around him. As a young man, Robert was hired by a local automobile dealership where he worked for many years as the Service and Parts Director. He was respected and admired by both his clients and his co-workers. Robert had reached the pinnacle of his life, a great career, a new home that he built, a passion for cars, boats, and motorcycles. He loved MMA fights, wrestling, Phillies and those "Stinkin" Eagles. He loved his animals: Chico, Nismo Macho and Mimi. Our Robert was reaping the rewards of his well-deserved success and he did so humbly. We were all so proud of him. Many great memories were made with Rob's sense of humor. The future for Robert was bright but underneath that confident and successful man was a deep sadness that nobody could understand; sadness so pervasive that he too could not understand. As time went on, Robert became more reclusive as he tried to thwart off the demons of depression. Nobody will ever be sure of what singular cause, or what multitude of events provided the catalyst for Robert's depression to turn deeper. Addiction is never easy to talk about, and when Robert's depression allowed addiction to become part of his life, all his loved ones looked on as spectators with minimal ability to influence the outcome. We all tried in so many ways to reach out and help Robert but the two-headed monster of depression and addiction was consuming our son, brother, cousin, nephew, and friend. As much as Robert was a beacon of hope for others, he was never able to grasp onto a beacon for himself. Even in his darkest hours, Robert's dignity and self-respect prevailed. He hated what he had become and he refused to succumb on any other term but his own. We couldn't expect anything less from Robert. It must have taken tremendous courage and strength that only Robert could muster. Robert, the lamb that lost his way, asked for Jesus' hand on October 30, 2015, and Jesus said Yes, welcome my son, you shall suffer no more. He leaves behind a loving mother, Tammy Willson (Marcello Mirabelli) and a very large loving family and friends. A viewing will be held on Friday, Nov.6 at the DeMarco-Luisi Funeral Home from 9am-11am followed by a mass at Christ the Good Shephard Parish, St. Isidore's Church 1655 Magnolia Rd., Vineland at 11:30am. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting to make donations to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at www.afsp.org or Saint Vincent DePaul Society in care of Christ the Good Sheppard Parish, Saint Isidore's Church 1655 Magnolia Road, Vineland, NJ 08361