Robert O. Tate, Jr.

When Robert Tate, Jr. was born July 16th, 1956, the Tate family household was never the same. As the last of the lineage spawned by Hattie and Robert, Sr., "Bobby", as he was affectionately known to family, became the apple of everyone's eye, including his brother Paul and his sisters Sandra and Teresa. 

Bob was quite a sports fan, but baseball was his prime selection, yet he eventually became most proficient in table tennis or, what we know as Ping Pong. He developed quite a reputation as a Ping Pong competitor during his days at Bluffton University in Ohio from which he received his bachelor's degree in biology.

The Scott High School graduate (class of '73, "Always a Bulldog!") worked at Toledo area hospitals for many years, but his dream was to own and operate a funeral home. That idea blossomed to fruition after he attended and graduated from the Wayne State College of Mortuary Science in Detroit and opened his first funeral home on Detroit Avenue, in Toledo, built from the ground up.

After altruistically serving the Toledo community's mortuary needs for several decades, Bob restructured his career and left the mortuary business for a few years, but he was later called back to his first love. He opened another funeral home as Tate Funeral Services, located on Broadway Street, moving later to another location on Lagrange Street, before finally closing.

Preceding him in death are his parents, Robert, Sr. and Hattie; brother, Paul Duhart; and niece, Donya Duhart. Survivors include his son, Robert, III; sisters, Sandra M. Davis and Teresa T. Brown; nieces, Mona Smith, Anne-Marie Brown and Kristian Brenneman (Tirrell); nephews, Tim Coates, Paul Duhart, Jr., Richard O. Brown III, and Justin S. Davis; family friends, Scottie Rodgers, Raynard Cooper, Theotis Smith, Todd McFadden, Rev. William Smith; and a host of other relatives and friends. 

Mr. Tate's interment is at Toledo Memorial Park. Memorial scholarship contributions in his name can be mailed to the Alpha XI Lambda chapter of Alphi Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., P.O. Box 351061, Toledo, 43635, or electronically, $AXLScholarship. Memories or condolences can be shared at: wisniewskifuneral.net

Thank you to The Rev. Dr. Michael Carr, Temple of Praise Church, Maumee.

www.wisniewskifuneral.net

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