Robert Queen

"I'm so sorry. I thought I'd have more time."

- Robert to his son Oliver Queen

Robert Queen (1958-2007) was the CEO of Queen Consolidated. He was also the husband of Moira Queen, the father of Oliver Queen and Thea Queen, the best friend of Walter Steele, and a former close friend of Malcolm Merlyn. He shoots himself in the head to save his son's life and to increase his chances of survival after they are shipwrecked so Oliver can right his wrongs.

Biography
Robert Queen was founder and CEO of Queen Consolidated. When he first opened his Queen Industrial Shipping factory in the Glades, a city councilman approached him and told him that he'd only allow the factory to run if Robert financially compensated him. Robert, being an honest businessman, angrily rejected the councilman's proposal and the two got into a heated argument which soon turned violent. Robert then accidentally caused the councilman to fall to his death, leaving Robert in a state of shock and depression.

After the incident with the councilman, Robert turned to his close friend Malcolm Merlyn and the two created the organization Tempest, which was created to help Starling City by strong arming the corrupt wealthy people who were poisoning the city through their illegal actions. However, Malcolm was unsatisfied by the slow results, and came up with a new plan called The Undertaking, which would destroy the crime ridden Glades, and the thousands of people in it. Robert was horrified at Malcolm's plan, and met with Frank Chen, another one of the members of Tempest, and the two men agreed to meet with each other in China to take control of the majority of real estate in the Glades, thus preventing the Undertaking. Frank, however, betrayed Robert to Malcolm, who had the Queen's Gambit sabotaged before Robert used it to travel to China. The yacht overturned, and he, along with one of the crew members and his son, Oliver, were able to make it to a life boat. They only had one bottle of water, which Robert gave to Oliver, much to the annoyance of the crew member. When all hope seemed lost, Robert shot the crew member along with himself, apparently, to save his son. Just before he did so, the anguished patriarch pleaded with his son to ``Survive. Right my wrongs."

Oliver buried his father on the island. Oliver then returned to Starling City five years later to fulfill his father's dying wish: to save Starling City from the people who were poisoning it.

Season 1

 * "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (mentioned)
 * "Sacrifice" (mentioned)
 * "League of Assassins" (mentioned)
 * "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (mentioned)
 * "Sacrifice" (mentioned)
 * "League of Assassins" (mentioned)

Comics

 * Arrow #1: Special Edition (mentioned)
 * Arrow #5
 * Arrow #32

Trivia

 * It his heavily implied that Robert frequently cheated on Moira throughout the course of their marriage.

Behind the scenes
Robert's birth year is in dispute. In, it was mentioned as 1948, but in the equally canon Arrow #1: Special Edition and , it was mentioned as 1958 on his gravestone. However it's referred to as 1958 in more recent content, meaning that the producers probably changed their minds.