Hello,
My name is Chris Federico, I am the President and a Co-Founder of the Cool Kids Campaign. I have had the privilege of knowing Rob and consider him one of my best friends for over 20 years. Many of you know him from a variety of places. Mine has been from our days working together in the mid-90’s at Alex Brown in the margin department through the creation of the Belanger-Federico Foundation in 2004 to Cool Kids Campaign in 2006.
To say we have been through a lot together might be an understatement.
Just to share a few stories, one of them from our days at Alex Brown when his father was dying of cancer in New York, he would go visit him and one day he called me on Monday morning at work and said I am not going to be in today still in New York with my dad, I told him don’t worry we have you covered. After this happened a few times, he asked I don’t want to lose my job missing these days, I told him don’t worry they will never let you go because you are with your father, they took care of me when my mom was dying and they will do the same for you and that has carried on for him to Brown Advisory, so for all those reading this at Brown Advisory thank you for treating him and his family so well.
Back to Alex Brown, Rob told me one day at work that he was dating a girl named Natasha, but didn’t tell me her last name and well I didn’t ask. Now I knew a Natasha from when I went to Cathedral, but didn’t think it was Natasha Pomles. I believe a few weeks go by and I am at Padonia Fitness Center and run into a mutual friend of Natasha and mine and in course of the conversation she says hey did you hear Natasha is dating Rob Belanger. I was a little surprised so next day I go in office and go into Rob’s cubicle and said you knucklehead, you are dating Natasha Pomles, I have known her since 6th grade, don’t let her go.
Now to move forward to when Rob and I started the Belanger-Federico Foundation. I called him and said let’s get this foundation off the ground and I explained I was going to need a place to work from. I couldn’t do it from my house, too many distractions, he said you can come work from my basement. So Monday morning November 17th, 2003, I get to Rob’s house and I had an idea of what his basement looked like and thought this won’t be so bad and we walked down there and I say where is the computer, he said in the laundry room. Ok, so much for the basement, we walk into the laundry room and sure enough there is a computer and desk in the corner waiting for me along with the washer and dryer, but I didn’t care as long as we had someplace to get started with. After a few months, I figured I better either start offering to do their laundry or we needed to find another place and we found another place to work from!
We knew the Foundation needed an event to get off the ground, so we create the Mark Belanger Celebrity Golf Classic. Rob knew he had to call his dad’s old teammates to get them to play because our goal was to provide every group a celebrity. To our amazement, every former player he asked said yes and to this day, we continue to have our golf tourney which for the last 8 years has been called the Ken Singleton Celebrity Golf Classic. For those former players who come out every year, you know how much it has meant to Rob and myself, thank you.
When we started the Cool Kids Campaign in 2006 with Sharon Perfetti and Kimmie Meissner, we knew this was going to be a challenge and Rob and I didn’t always agree, nor should we have, but there was no issue we couldn’t work through and he taught me a few things, like patience. Whenever we had to send out a letter, Rob would proof read and edit it and I swear he missed his calling, he could have been an English professor at Cambridge for as good as he was in grammar. One day in 2006, we had a proposal to get out and Rob went through about 4 or 5 edits before he knew it was what we needed to send and even though we missed the deadline, we still got the donation and I am sure it was due to his letter.
We had our share of fun times as well. We know how talented he is athletically, in 2010 playing in our Ken Singleton Celebrity Golf Classic, Rob and I were playing together in a group and he really wanted to win the tourney that year. We are on the 17th hole and he knew we have to birdie the last two holes to come close to winning. Our drives were bad so the next approach shot to the green was far away. Some of you know, just how good of a golfer Rob is and he was playing pretty well that day. He says, give me your 2 iron, which I gladly did, and before he hits this amazing shot which landed about 5 feet from the pin from about 200 yards out, you could see the focus and determination in his eyes and I knew he was going to hit it well. We end of birding the last hole and think we have a shot to win it, but our hopes were dashed when we get into club house and see scores posted and everyone is talking about Rick Dempsey’s team hitting an eagle on last hole to go 20 under.
Many of you if not all of you know Rob is a gifted and talented singer. Back in 2013, Rob and I went to the Hootie and Blowfish Monday after the Masters golf tourney in myrtle beach. We had a blast and to my surprise didn’t talk much about the foundation at all. On our way home, we are stuck in traffic and tired and we needed a pick me up, so he says what is one of your favorite songs, I said Superstition from Stevie Wonder. Since I was driving, he wipes out the iPad, goes on YouTube and says I am going to sing it, I said if you are, you need to wear my shades. He picks the version with just melody and before I knew it I swear I was in the car with Stevie Wonder, it was perfect, when he was done, I said do it again, boy I felt like a little kid in the candy store.
There are times in life when you come across someone and regardless of circumstance, say to yourself, that I am a better person because that individual was in my life. This is true for Rob, his legacy will live on through his loving family and supportive group of friends. He will always be part of the Cool Kids Campaign.
