Robert Roe Jr.

Robert Roe Jr., 77, a retired chemical educator, died on June 16, 2012.

Born in Dallas, Roe joined the Marine Corps after graduating from high school in 1953. After leaving the service, he earned a B.S. in education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1959.

Roe became a chemistry and physics teacher at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas in 1960. He earned a master’s degree in education from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University, Commerce) in 1962. He then received an M.S. in natural science from New Mexico Highlands University while attending a National Science Foundation-sponsored Academic Year Institute from 1963 until 1964.

After a year of graduate study in biochemistry at Oklahoma State University, he taught science at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas from 1965 until 1968. Subsequently, he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1970 from North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) under the guidance of W. T. Brady.

Roe then worked at what is now the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, for three years before returning to teaching, first at Skyline High School, then at Highland Park High School, and finally at the Hockaday School. After retirement, he moved to East Texas.

Roe was a member of ACS from 1973 until 1999, serving as chair of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section in 1984. A pioneer in the advanced use of computer techniques in the classroom, Roe received the James Bryant Conant Award for High School Chemistry Teaching in 1982.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Anne; daughter, Kimberlea; sons, Robert and William; and two grandchildren.