Robert "Rob" "Bobby" Edward Colbert

The huge heart of Robert E. “Rob” “Bobby” Colbert, 53, of Swanzey, NH, a great friend, confidant, and mentor too many will be greatly missed after his sudden passing from complications from a stroke on January 16, 2024, at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. Rob passed peacefully knowing full well the extent to which he was loved by so many family members, friends, and others.

Born the seventh and last child of David and Rose (Scata) Colbert on November 16, 1970, in Providence, RI, Rob grew up in Warwick, RI. He was a 1988 graduate of Bishop Hendricken High School. He then attended Marist College, where he graduated in 1992.

His teaching career began as a high school social studies teacher at Roy C. Ketcham High School, and his coaching career began as the men’s basketball coach at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, NY. This is where he met his future wife, Michelle Potocki, who was the assistant women’s basketball coach.

It was during this time that Rob realized he wanted to pursue coaching full-time, not only for the love of the game, but for the platform it provided to bring out the very best in his players and to help mold them into strong, good men. He felt, on the court, he had a captive audience and could more effectively convey his teachings, and so the court became his classroom. He served as an assistant coach at Marist College and Keene State College before being hired as head men’s basketball coach at Keene State College, where he served from 1999-2015. It was at Keene State that his impact was greatest on the “sons” he coached and the lifetime friends he made. In 2016, he began a new career as a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones, where he continued to forge new and lasting friendships and profoundly change the lives of so many. For the past two years, Rob was the girls’ varsity basketball coach at Monadnock Regional High School, a charge he never expected to love so dearly, coaching young women who quickly became the daughters he never had. Throughout his life, Rob also served on the Monadnock Regional School District School Board and various community-based committees and charities.

Family was the most important thing in the world to Rob. His sons, Andy and Jack, were his absolute pride and joy. Together, they bonded over their mutual loves of basketball, golf, NASCAR, talks at the dinner table, vacations in the Outer Banks, NC, with family friends, camping, endless movie quotes, silliness, laughter, wisdom, teaching them to cook, playing chess, and so many other things too numerous to mention.

His best times were spent with his family: parents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, nieces, and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and his many cousins with whom he shared summers making countless memories in Gloucester, MA, Matunuck, RI, and Keene and Alstead, NH.

Rob also loved gardening, cooking, and traveling. He found great joy and solace in sitting on the beach, playing in the waves, fly fishing, and hunting with dear family and friends, particularly his annual elk hunting trip to Montana with his brother and cousins.

In 1999, Rob married Michelle, and they settled in NH, a place they both loved for the small-town feel, slower pace, and the fact it was the perfect place to raise a family. This became a reality in Swanzey with neighborhood cook-offs, backyard competitions, driveway basketball games, and friends who became extended family. He could always be found hanging on his truck bed in his cut-off tee and crocs, sharing a cold one, passing out water to the neighborhood kids playing in the yard, and feeding all who were present whatever he was cooking on the grill or picked from his vegetable garden.

Rob will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him, but more so by his wife of 23 years, Michelle (Potocki) Colbert, his sons, Andrew and Jack Colbert, and his loving family. Rob is survived by his brothers and sisters, Christopher Colbert and his wife, Lori, of Coventry, RI; Mary Colbert of Cranston, RI; Kathleen Robinson and her husband, Kenneth, of Cranston, RI; Kevin Colbert and his wife, Lisa, of Boxford, MA; his mother-in-law, Judy Potocki, of Swanzey; his brother-in-law, Greg Potocki, and his wife, Karen, of Flourtown, PA; his sister-in-law, Susan Salem, of Fishkill, NY; his brother-in-law, George Salem, of Hopewell Jct., NY; 15 nieces and nephews who Rob loved dearly, and 11 great nieces and nephews. Rob was predeceased by his parents, David and Rose, a sister, Elizabeth Colbert, a brother, David Colbert, Jr., and his father-in-law, Thomas Potocki, and many beloved aunts, uncles and cousins.

Family and friends are invited to call on Friday evening, February 2, 2024, from 5-7:30PM at the Monadnock Covenant Church, 90 Base Hill Road, Keene, NH. A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Saturday, February 3, 2024 at 11:00 AM at St. Bernard Church, 185 Main Street, Keene, NH.

In lieu of flowers donations are welcome to his sons’ college funds. Checks can be made payable to Edward Jones, memo: Andrew and Jack Colbert 50/50, 650 Park Avenue, Keene, NH 03431.