Teather was born in Hamilton, Ontario where he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in September 1967.
Teather's 30-year career with the RCMP he worked in Uniform Patrol and as a Hostage Taker-Barricaded Person Negotiator.
Teather died at the age of 57, on November 15, 2004 at Surrey Memorial Hospital of natural causes after a battle with diabetes.
[1] On 26 September 1981, Corporal Robert Teather, a member of the Surrey Detachment Diving Team of the R.C.M.P., rescued two fishermen trapped in the overturned hull of a boat.
Early that morning, the boat Respond collided with a freighter near the mouth of the Fraser River, in British Columbia.
Senior officials frowned upon the idea, stating the dog's life is not worth his own with the possibility of being trapped in the vessel.
Teather was a published author whose works included On Patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted, Mountie Makers, The Scarlet Tunic, and Encyclopedia of Underwater Investigations; which is now part of the course training standards for police divers.