Obituary
Robert J. Raggi, fondly called “Bob” by all who knew and loved him, past away on July 17, 2024 after a long battle with illness. He was 82. Born in Astoria, Queens on January 2, 1942, Bob attended Power Memorial High School in Manhattan and then went on to a Liberal Arts program at St Johns University in Queens where he studied journalism. Always wanting to be a writer, he found employment as a copy boy at the New York Daily Mirror tabloid. Unfortunately, 2 years later the newspaper folded while he was away on his honeymoon.
He joined the NYC Police Dept in 1964, serving 10 years in Brooklyn’s Bedford
Stuyvesant/Crown Heights 80th Pct before relinquishing his newly earned gold shield to become
a member of the department’s mounted unit. Bob often said that the reason he loved horses as
well as law enforcement was due to the TV and movie westerns of the 1950’s, specifically
Gunsmoke and High Noon. Bob created The Police Heritage Calendar for the NYPD and it was
published from 1978-1983. He served in Troop D in the Bronx and finished his career in
Richmond Hill at Troop G.
He retired in 1987, relocating to West Virginia for the next 2 decades where he and his wife
gave shelter to dozens of abandoned and disabled dogs and cats. He returned to Long Island in
2008 working as a security guard at the social security offices in Long Beach and Freeport as
well as Syosset Hospital.
His hobbies and interests included writing essays, collecting books, American and NYC history,
his beloved Brookly Dodgers, vintage radio, classic films, cryptozoology and UFO’s.
