DUMONT – Robert Scott, a star athlete for Dumont High School in the 1960s, has died after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Scott, 72, died March 29 at Stamford Hospital - Bennett Medical Center in Stamford, Connecticut, according to his former classmate Phillip Barbara. He had been hospitalized for two weeks.

Scott’s wife, Barbara, indicated that her husband had been suffering from diabetes and respiratory difficulties in recent years, which made him susceptible to complications from COVID-19.

Scott, a 1966 graduate, had lettered in basketball, football and baseball during his years at Dumont High and is enshrined in the Dumont High School Hall of Fame. He was the starting tailback for the 1963 Huskies football team that went undefeated and were champions in the Bergen County Scholastic League.

Phillip Barbara, a former reporter for The Record from 1977 to 1982, remembered Scott as not only a stellar athlete but a stellar human being.

“From the days I delivered The Record to the Scotts’ home, through high school when he was a star athlete, and years later when we were colleagues at The Daily News – he in advertising, me an editorial assistant – he was warm and friendly. If he was at a Dumont pub and I walked in, he’d call my name, and we talked about the News over a beer,” Barbara said.

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Scott graduated from Colgate University in New York in 1970. He played football for three years.

He would go on to a long career in advertising sales for The Daily News and the New York Post.

He lived in Teaneck and Ridgewood before moving in 1985 to Manhattan and then to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Scott is survived by his second wife, Barbara Scott, his son, Erik and daughter, Erin, and their mother, Cheryl Cobb. He is also survived by his siblings William Scott of Vermont and Diane Scott Levine of Island Park, New York.

A memorial service will be held by the family after the coronavirus pandemic subsides.

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com Twitter: @ricardokaul