|
https://legacy.suntimes.com/us/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/name/roger-roth-obituary?id=7094439
Obituary
Roth, Roger J. age 51, of Topeka KS, formerly of Glencoe, passed away Tuesday, November 20, due to a cardiac arrest en route to Chicago for the Thanksgiving Holiday. A most devoted son of Ann (nee Rubel) and the late Donald Roth, loving brother of Melissa (Frank) Bloch, Doug and Tom (Susana) Roth, adored uncle of Julia and Sara Bloch, Jonathan, Justin and Daniel Roth, cherished nephew of Julius (Franke) and Irving (Elise) Rubel. Roger was a passionate lover of the fine arts, particularly music and photography, and a prolific painter up to the time of his death. Roger will be sorely missed by all the many lives he touched. Service and interment will be private. Contributions may be made to NARSAD, a leading charity dedicated to mental health research, 60 Cutter Mill Rd.,Suite 404, Great Neck, NY 11021 tel: 800-829-8289 or Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe, IL 60022 tel: 847-835-8215. The family will be receiving condolences Sunday afternoon. For the time and location, please contact The Goldman Funeral Group, 847-478-1600.
|
Joe Goldman
I was best friends with Roger Roth from virtually the first week I met him, in third grade, until his most unfortunate early passing, during his late '40's, owing to a heart attack.
At our grammar school, North School of Glencoe, Roger was the definitive nice guy. I say this not out of pure nostalgia. Ask anyone from Glencoe, and they'll agree. He had the most pleasant demeanor you could imagine. How he managed to not have any sharp edges to his personality at such a young age I will never know.
He excelled at NTE, but in a most quiet way. Wound up with a class rank of #81 out of our mammoth 913 person class, and hardly broke a sweat in achieving such marks. By senior year, he was the photo editor of our school paper, The New Trier News. Under his stewardship, the NT News won the award from the Associated Press for having the finest high school newspaper photography in the entire state. Roger, of course, was the recipient of the award. He told me about this once, and simply left it at that. During adulthood, his love of art continued. He painted wonderfully, kept up with photography, and enjoyed strumming the guitar.
I was in his home a million times growing up, and was treated by the Roth's as if I were family. Some of you might know his older brother, Doug, NTE '73. Gosh, such nice memories I have of both Roger and his family. Roger got dealt a seriously bad hand in terms of his cardiac health, and those of us who knew him grieve to this day, I'm quite sure. What a guy. Rog, I miss you terribly.