Robert Turner Freeman, Jr. was born on April 25, 1918 in New York City. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1941 and, in November of the following year, married Mary Jones of Washington, D. C. The couple had two children, daughter Veronica ("Ronnie") and Robert T. Freeman, III ("Bob").
From 1942-1945, Freeman worked as an economic statistician with the War Production Board in Washington, D. C. In 1945, he returned to New York City and entered the life insurance industry as the vice-president and actuary for United Mutual Life Insurance, an African-American insurance company that "mainly insured Negro lives." During Freeman's tenure with United Mutual Life, the company expanded its operations to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D. C. During this time, Freeman also prepared and presented a study to the New York State Insurance Department that challenged reinsurance companies' higher premiums for black lives; this resulted in the passing of legislation prohibiting discrimination in premium rates.
In 1954, Freeman learned that Britain intended to grant its Gold Coast colony independence, and that his former Lincoln University classmate, Kwame Nkrumah, would be the new nation's leader. The question of adequate life insurance in the soon-to-be former colony intrigued him and, together with two lawyer friends Vertner W. Tandy, Jr. and David Jones, Freeman conducted a survey of the life insurance industry in the Gold Coast and found that there were no domestic life insurance companies. Learning of the three's interest in life insurance, Dr. Robert K. A. Gardiner, head of Social Welfare and Community Development and, later, of the Ministry of Housing, invited them to visit the Gold Coast in 1955. During this visit Freeman, Tandy and Jones decided to charter the Gold Coast Insurance Company and they returned to New York to settle their personal affairs. Meanwhile, on the Gold Coast, Henry Nyemetei, Kofi Johnson, and Anthony Kobina Woode arranged registration, immigration, and housing. The partners returned to the Gold Coast in January 1956 and the company was fully operational by March.
The Gold Coast Insurance Company recruited twenty-five insurance agents - the first in the colony - and gave them a two-week training course. By 1959, the company was 150-strong and branch offices had been opened in other major Ghanaian cities.
Three years after establishing the Gold Coast (later Ghana) Insurance Company, Freeman and Tandy formed the Ghana General Insurance Company to sell automobile and fire insurance. It was the first domestic property and casualty company in Ghana. Meanwhile, the partnership with Jones had dissolved and he had returned to the United States.
In 1962, the flourishing Ghana Insurance and Ghana General Insurance companies were incorporated into the newly-formed State Insurance Corporation (SIC), a materialization of President Nkrumah's conviction that Government should operate in all business as a means of establishing the country's economic freedom. Nkrumah requested Freeman remain on board as the Managing Director of the SIC. The president displayed his full trust in Freeman's ability by dissolving the company's board of directors, effectively giving Freeman a free hand to operate and develop the company. SIC grew under Freeman's leadership and the investment of its premium income in Ghana impacted the country's housing and other industries.
Freeman's and Tandy's activities drew a lot of interest from other African governments. From 1958 to 1959 Freeman provided Liberia's Providence Insurance Company with actuarial consultation. In 1960 the Western Region Finance Corporation of Nigeria approached Freeman and Tandy about establishing an all-purpose insurance company in Lagos, Nigeria. The Great Nigeria Insurance Company was built along the lines of the Ghana Insurance Company. Tandy re-located to Lagos to oversee operations of the new company. Lesotho's government asked Freeman to establish a Social Security system similar to the one he helped establish in Ghana. In 1965, Freeman resigned his post at SIC. He returned to the United States where he worked with the Peace Corps and USAID. In 1971 Freeman returned to Africa, this time under the invitation of the Ethiopian Government who wanted him to formulate insurance law and set up an insurance department. Freeman was also a consultant with the Government of Zambia, conducting a study of that country's health care system in 1981. From 1984-1986 he served as the president and chairman of the board of the Freeman International Insurance Company a domestic fire and casualty insurance company which he founded in Washington, D. C. Freeman sold the company in October 1986. In 1988, he returned to the African continent, this time performing a survey of the South African Insurance market and preparing a blue-print for establishing the first black South African Life Insurance Company.
In addition to direct involvement with African government, Freeman also consulted on African affairs for numerous U. S. private and governmental entities. Among other roles, he served as board member for the Phelps-Stokes Fund and was involved with the NAACP's 1977 Task Force on Africa which examined the impact of American foreign policy on Africa and made recommendations for the NAACP's involvement on the African continent.
Freeman died on January 10, 2001 in Washington, D. C.