Robert J. “Bobby” “Squid” Green, 57, of Belleville, Illinois, passed away on Thursday, August 27, 2026, at Memorial Hospital in Belleville. He was born September 22, 1968, in Centreville, Illinois.
Robert was his given name, and many knew him as Bobby, but to countless friends and family, he was simply “Squid.” It was a nickname he carried from his time in the United States Navy and one that fit a man nobody was likely to forget.
Squid was not a quiet man, in just about any sense of the word. He talked loud, laughed loud, played his music loud, and, when the opportunity presented itself, sang it loud too. AC/DC, Bob Seger, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Stapleton, and countless others provided the soundtrack. He loved a good one-liner, an even better story, and a joke for adults only. He could be stubborn and opinionated, and if Bobby thought you needed to hear something, chances were you were going to hear it.
There was nothing quiet about Bobby, and there was nothing quiet about the way he loved his people.
For Bobby, food was a love language. He was an exceptional cook who may very well have missed his calling. Ribs, pork steaks, chicken, jambalaya, Cajun chicken pasta, gumbo, and countless other meals came out of his kitchen, usually seasoned with his famous homemade rub. The recipe was so uniquely his that even Bobby couldn’t have told you exactly what was in it. He loved cooking for people, sending food home with them, or taking over the cooking himself. Feeding someone was one of the many ways Bobby told them he loved them.
That same love was at the heart of the way Bobby cared for his children, Nicholas and Marina. He talked to them every day, checked on them, cooked for them, worried about them, and made sure they knew he was always there. No matter where the day took him, he came home to his family. Being their dad was not something Bobby simply said mattered to him. It was something he showed them in the countless ordinary ways he loved and cared for them every day.
Bobby was, without question, a momma’s boy. His mother, Kathleen, spoiled him when he was younger, and he loved every minute of it. He loved talking with her, and no matter how old he got, he never left her side without giving her a kiss goodbye.
He shared that same unmistakable bond with his sisters, Jamie and Jennifer. The three of them could bicker with the best of them, and Bobby certainly wasn’t shy about telling his sisters when he thought they were driving him crazy. But he valued their opinions, listened to what they had to say, and, most importantly, always knew they were on his team. Through every disagreement and every argument, there was never any question about the love underneath it all.
For 27 years, Bobby shared his life with his wife and best friend, Toni. They were partners in crime, drinking buddies, co-chefs, and co-parents. They could argue with the best of them, but they always found their way back to one another. So many days ended the same simple way: together in the basement, sometimes surrounded by others and sometimes just the two of them, sharing a beer, a cigarette, and a conversation. Through all of life’s noise, they were home to one another.
Bobby also shared a lifelong friendship with Danny Smith, a friendship so close that the two seemed cut from the same cloth. They shared hobbies, personalities, and even enough of the same build and demeanor that they could nearly have passed for brothers. Danny was not simply a friend of Bobby’s, but part of the life he built and one of the people he loved most.
Family was at the center of Bobby’s life. His nephew and godson, Jared Buss, spent countless hours at his side, including many in the kitchen as Bobby’s unofficial sous chef. There was never a need to call ahead or wait for an invitation. Jared always knew he could walk through the door and be at home with Bobby and Toni. Whether they were cooking together, sitting in the basement, or simply spending an ordinary day together, Bobby gave him something far greater than any lesson in the kitchen: the certainty that he would always have a place beside him.
And Bobby loved people fiercely.
He was loyal to the end. If he loved you, he had your back. He might have yelled at you, given you hell, told you exactly what he thought, or told the same story over and over. But he would also show up, check on you, feed you, sit with you, and make certain you knew you weren’t alone. His attention itself was an expression of love.
Bobby spent decades working in the flooring business before later working as a corrections officer at the juvenile detention center. He was also a veteran of the United States Navy.
Bobby was preceded in death by his father, Robert E. Green. He is survived by his wife, Toni (nee Alvarez) Green; his children, Nicholas Green and Marina Green, both of Belleville, Illinois; his mother, Kathleen (nee Barbee) Green of Belleville; his sisters, Jamie Green of Belleville and Jennifer Buss of Greensboro, North Carolina; his in-laws, Armando “Chico” and Marynelle Alvarez of Shiloh, Illinois; and his brothers-in-law, David (Elizabeth) Alvarez, Daniel (Laura Richardson) Alvarez, and Jeff Buss, all of Belleville. He also leaves behind many nieces and nephews, extended family members, and dear friends whose lives were made better by having him in them.
There will be quieter rooms without Squid in them. The music won’t be quite as loud, the stories won’t be told quite the same way, and there will forever be something missing from the kitchen, the fishing trips, the basement conversations, and all the ordinary moments he somehow made unmistakably his.
Anyone who knew Bobby or had the good fortune of knowing him as Squid, knows that being loved by him was never something you had to wonder about.
Memorials may be made to Toni Green for her children’s education: https://gofund.me/098917000 or to the American Diabetes Association.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, September 3, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Kassly Mortuary Ltd. in Fairview Heights, Illinois.
Visitation will also be held on Friday, September 4, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Belleville, IL.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, September 4, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Belleville, IL..
Burial with military honors will be held on Monday, September 7, 2026 (Labor Day) at 9:00 a.m., in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, MO.
