His story
The chief his crews
measured themselves against.
Rob Nugent was born in St. Petersburg and gave the city thirty-one years back. What follows is the shape of that, in the order it happened.
- 1970
01
Mound Park
Born May 21 at Mound Park Hospital in St. Petersburg — the same city he would spend his whole working life inside. He never really left, and he never wanted to.
- 1988
Senior portrait Northeast High School, Class of 1988 02
Northeast High
Graduated from Northeast High School, where he wrestled for the Vikings and met the girl he would marry. Kelly was there before the career was, and she was there at the end of it.
- 1989
03
Marauder Soccer Camp
The summer after high school he went to work at Marauder Soccer Camp — MSC, a family soccer camp — and then he kept going back, every summer from 1989 to 2018. Thirty summers. That same first year he took his first coaching job, as an assistant coach with the Seminole USA Soccer Club for the 1989–90 season.
- After
04
St. Pete Junior College, Quincy, the Fire College
St. Pete Junior College, then Quincy College in Quincy, Illinois, then the Florida Fire College. The classroom part of the job was never the part he talked about, but he kept going back to it.
- 1994
05
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue
He started with the city in the Parks and Recreation Department, and two years later he was on the rescue. From there he worked his way up through every rank the shift had, and spent most of it at Station 7 on the north side of the city.
- 1994 City of St. Petersburg, Parks and Recreation Department
- Aug 12, 1996 Hired by St. Petersburg Fire Rescue as a Firefighter/EMT
- 1999 Promoted to Certified Driver Engineer
- Jun 16, 2003 Promoted to Lieutenant — Station 7
- Jan 17, 2011 Promoted to Captain — Station 7, then Station 11
- Jul 13, 2015 Promoted to District Chief — DC-10-A at Station 7, covering the north side of the city
- 2025 Retired as District Chief
- 1996
06
The Sideline
The same year he went on the rescue, he went back to coaching, and for the next two decades he fit the soccer around the shifts. Some years that meant three teams at once.
- 1996 St. Pete Raiders Soccer Club
- 1996–2012 Clearwater Central Catholic High School — boys soccer coaching staff
- 2008–2014 Tampa Bay United Soccer Club
- 2012–2018 Carrollwood Day School — boys soccer coach
- 1996
Wedding day Rob and Kelly, August 17, 1996 07
Kelly, the Boys, and Brian
Five days after he was hired by St. Petersburg Fire Rescue, he married Kelly. The years that followed filled the house — two sons of their own, and two nephews from his brother Brian and Julie.
- Aug 17, 1996 Married Kelly, with his younger brother, Brian Thomas Nugent, standing beside him as best man
- Sep 28, 2000 Rob and Kelly’s first son, Luke Thomas Nugent, was born
- Mar 31, 2001 Served as best man for Brian at his wedding to Julie Nugent
- Mar 11, 2002 Welcomed his first nephew, Jakob Thomas Nugent — Brian and Julie’s first son
- Mar 24, 2003 Welcomed his second nephew, Joshua — Brian and Julie’s youngest son
- Jul 21, 2003 Rob and Kelly’s second son, Brady Thomas Nugent, was born
- 31 years
08
The City of St. Petersburg
Thirty-one years with the city, twenty-nine of them with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue, retiring as District Chief. He set a standard on his shifts and then held himself to it first, which is the only version of that arrangement anybody respects.
- 2025
09
December 6
He died surrounded by family. The service was held on December 20 at Grace Lutheran Church on 16th Street North, in the city he answered calls in for three decades, and St. Petersburg Fire Rescue turned out in full. A department honor guard led it and the bagpipes played. Outside, his District Chief car stood with the first ladder and the first engine he ever rode, brought out and put on display for him. More than 300 firefighters and some 400 other guests packed the church — by the time it began it was standing room only.
The people
Who he belonged to.
Rob is survived by his wife, Kelly, and their sons, Luke Thomas and Brady Thomas. By his brother, Brian Thomas Nugent, and Julie. By his mother and step-father, Karen and Jim Harte, and his father, Ralph Nugent. By his nephews, Jakob and Joshua, and his aunt, Donna McAuley, and John.
He was preceded in death by his uncle, Warren “Butch” DeButy, and his Nana, Lorraine Yeitz.
The full obituary, with the photo wall and the guest book, is kept by Trinity Memorial Garden Funeral Home. Read it there →
Photographs
The photographs are on the tribute wall.
There is one wall now and it takes both — a picture of Rob on the rig, at the station, at a banquet, off duty with his boys, and whatever you want to say about it. Put it up straight from your phone. The family looks at every photograph before it appears, and everything that goes up is kept for Luke and Brady.
His name is still working.
Two initiatives carry it forward — one inside the department, one at the college.