At two years of age Bobby would sing the alphabet backwards, with apparent boredom of the repititious requests that are often put on toddlers just beginning to speak. At his third birthday he read his birthday cards and by age four he was reading the newspaper with complete comprehension. I would say he was highly gifted, as was apparent by his extraordinarily high IQ, the way he thought, and the mental abilities he was born with, but he never liked that term, or any of the other labels so many of our society place on people. Bobby was by no means an ordinary child, and grew to be a truly amazing, philosophical young man, who will be sadly missed by all who knew him, but eternally remembered by his unique sense of humor, his intellectual curiosity and excellence, and his unequivocal moral character, beliefs and virtues.
Writing an obituary for such a great human being is so hard, especially one so verbally talented, but hopefully he has influenced me enough to do him justice.
Bobby, or Rob as he was known to some of his friends, was born in New London, CT on January 18, 1985, son of Robert J. Urbani Jr, and Robin L. (DiCarlo) Urbani.Being an early and avid reader he had already been reading novels by the time he started Kindergarten at Freeman Hathaway in Mystic, CT and had decided he would probably become an entymologist. He was disappointed to learn that instead of studying Chemistry and Algebra, he would be coloring letters of the alphabet. After a few months he left public school and was homeschooled for the next several years, spending most of his time enjoying his life at home with his Mom, Dad and sister, reading, investigating nature and the world around him, doing science experiments, math and watching his choice of television which was usually PBS.
He grew up among a very close-knit, loving family, including his sister, Samantha Urbani, and his cousins Jonothan, Jacob, and Kristin, which were as close as siblings to him, and all of whom share the same high level of intelligence, which made life at the Urbani home always very fun, creative, and interesting. He attended boy scouts in his early years, as well as dance classes, soccer, and tennis. During his homeschooling period he initiated a personal readathon and raised over $100 and donated it to the Pequotsepos Nature Center around the age of 8.
Bobby spent a couple years at Cutler Middle School- at age 9 he was taking the highest level algebra class they had along with other middle school classes . Not being very happy at Cutler he decided to go to Stonington with his cousin, Kristin for 8th grade. He liked the students enough there to want to go to Stonington High where he spent the next four years, his Mom driving there every day from his home in Mystic. At Stonington High Rob was on the Math team, always being the highest scorer, he was in the chess club, and was on the school paper, as Editor in Chief for several years. Bobby had taken the SAT at age 12 and received awards from John Hopkins University for being among the top scorers nationally with a score of 1270, and then during his junior year at Stonington took it again and earned a 1540.
He was a very talented writer, which he said was due to the fact that he had read so many great books. Some of his favorite authors were Kurt Vonnegut, Roger Zalazney, Larry Nivens, Orson Scott Card , Cordwainer Smith, and Chuck Palanuck, said this year that from now on any time he has to give a gift to someone it will be the philosophy book Tao Te Ching. He said everyone should own a copy. His favorite films were Fight Club and recently Alfred Hitchcock films, and had made a few movies himself. He had many insightful and intelligent ideas for films he planned to make in the future.
Bobby was attending Boston University and studied film, psychology, philosophy and math, which he always excelled in naturally. He had a hard time choosing a major, but just last week said he was planning to major in Math with a minor in print journalism. He was currently working on several stories and articles for submission to local papers, and also said that he was thinking about working toward a career with National Geographic magazine in journalism, as he said it was the only publication that had writing in it that he did not feel he could make corrections to.
Bobby loved all sorts of music, from classical to the most obsure, and had been playing bass guitar over the past couple of years. He would always prefer to go downtown to the record store, have an intellectual conversation, and a good game of scrabble or chess next door at the coffee shop than to "party" like many of his age mates, though he enjoyed hanging out with his friends as well. Bobby loved to play tennis and recently could not seem to get enough.
Bobby always craved new information, and intellectual discussion, and held a person in high regard if he felt they were honest and had integrity. Those who knew Bobby say he was an independent thinker, and was the most sincere, genuine, and honest person they had ever known. He had a way of making a joke or saying something funny in even the worst or most awkward situations that would always make everyone laugh and seemed to always know how to make make a person feel better, despite his young age.
Bobby had the opportuntity to travel to Belize, Japan and Canada and had planned to travel for the rest of his life.
For the short time he was here, Bobby enjoyed his life to the fullest and he was a very happy young man.
Bobby is survived by his mother, Robin Urbani, and his father, Bob Urbani and his wife Martha, his sister Samantha Urbani, his paternal grandparents, Robert and Sylvia Urbani, his maternal Grandmother, Donna DiCarlo (and the late William H. Nutt), paternal great-grandmothers Beatrice Urbani, and Evelyn Radicioni, maternal great-grandparents Ethel Marie Mei, and Ruth Nutt. Also, on his paternal side he is survived by his Uncles Roger Urbani and Ron Urbani and their families, and various relatives including Pat and Ray Morgan, Sharon and David Pacheco, Arthur Radicioni, and Larry Urbani and his wife Marie. On his maternal side he is survived by his cousins Jonothan DiCarlo, Kristin LeClair, Jacob Alley and Aleksa Silinis, his aunt Rachel alley, his aunt Rene Silinis and her husband Al, his great aunt May Nelson, and great aunt Florence Mann. Also on his maternal side are his close friends Hollis Dunlap, Jessica Collins, and Justyn Sheline, who were often members of his household and were like brothers and a sister to him.
Visiting hours for family and Bobby’s friends will be held Friday, June 18th, from 6 to 9pm at the Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl Street, Mystic. A Graveside Service for family and Bobby's friends will be held on Saturday, June 19th, at 10:00am at St. Patrick Cemetery, River Road, Old Mystic. The family is planning to initiate a scholarship in his name so in lieu of flowers, donations can be sent in care of Dinoto Funeral home.