passed away on Wednesday, December 17, 2014. Bob was born on October 6, 1931 and raised in Camden. He attended Camden High School where he lettered for three years in football and baseball. He played in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system for three years, and was inducted into the South Jersey Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. He enlisted in the Coast Guard during the Korean War. Upon leaving the Coast Guard, Bob graduated from the NJ State Police Academy in 1958, embarking on a highly successful 28 year career during which he served at several stations in Southern New Jersey, in the Criminal Investigations Section, the Intelligence Bureau and as Chief of Investigations for the Division of Gaming Enforcement. He attained the rank of Major in 1970. During his career, he served on the Governor’s Steering Committee for Casino Gaming, the National Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit, the Federal Joint Terrorist Task Force, and a member of the policy board for the Mid-Atlantic Great Lakes Law Enforcement Network. He was a coordinator for .the State-Wide Intelligence System and lectured nationally on “Organized Crime and the Intelligence Process.”
Upon retirement from the State Police in 1986, he was appointed as special assistant to the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice, where he served in many capacities. Based on his expertise, Bob was selected to serve as the director of the Camden Police Department, where then Mayor Melvin Primas directed him to modernize the department, make it more responsive to the citizenry and provide “ the leadership and direction that has been lacking… to make it one Police Department.” At the completion of this assignment in 1988, he functioned as coordinator for the Statewide Narcotics Action Plan and the Juvenile Justice Action Plan. He also served in the Casino Prosecutions Section in Atlantic City, investigating criminal activity in the casinos. He fully retired in 1998.
Bob is survived by his wife of 60 years, Claire, loving daughters Debra Winters (Robert Galasso) and Kim Poole (Steve Poole) and adoring grandchildren, Alison Mannetta (Michael), Nicole Poole, Danielle Poole and Ryan Poole. He is also survived by his brother, Donald L. Winters (Judy) as well many loving nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held at the Egizi Funeral Home; 119 Ganttown Road, Turnersville, NJ from 6:00PM – 8:00PM on Sunday, December 21, 2014 and 9:30AM – 10:30AM on Monday, December 22, 2014. Funeral service will be held at the funeral home at 10:30AM followed by burial at the Gloucester County Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Williamstown.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Melanoma Research Foundation, P.O. Box 759329
Baltimore, MD 21275-9329 or www.melanoma.org in memory of Robert C. Winters.
“A Life Well Lived
Is Worth Remembering”