Richard Paul "Dick" Roe

ROERichard Paul "Dick" Roe, 88, died on December 1, 2010 in Pasadena in his home after a short illness. He was born in Los Angeles in 1922 of parents Beatrice Lenore Hart Roe of Kansas and William Ernest Roe of New York. The family settled in Southern California in the early part of the 20th century. His father worked as a mining engineer. Dick served in WW II as a B-17 bomber pilot with the 15th Air Force in the European Theatre and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak leaf Cluster for services to his country. After the war, he completed his university education at UC Berkeley where he received his BA in History. In 1946, Dick married the love of his life, Jane Bachhuber, whom he met while at UC Berkeley. He supported his young family with a variety of jobs while attending Southwestern School of Law, Los Angeles, on the GI Bill, graduating summa cum laude. In 1952, Dick became a victim of the polio epidemic, was paralyzed and spent several months in an iron lung. After a long recovery, Dick established his own law practice, Roe & Rellas, in downtown Los Angeles. He became widely respected both locally and nationally as an expert on matters of real property, mortgages, and savings and loan mergers and acquisitions. Dick is also responsible for the complex legal work that established the first shopping mall in California, as well as merging two savings and loan associations, the first time in the history of the industry. Dick and Jane Roe took pride in their five children and made Pasadena their home. Over many years, they supported a variety of institutions they especially loved, notably the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, the Pacific Asia Museum, Descanso Gardens, the Pasadena Symphony, the Huntington Hospital, and in honor of their handicapped grandson, Foothill Vocational Opportunities. Dick devoted the last 25 years of his life to his interest in Shakespeare, becoming an expert on the Bard's Italian Plays. One of the many original achievements of Dick's life is the completion of his book The Shakespeare Guide to Italy: Then & Now, which will be published by HarperCollins in the Fall of 2011. Dick was also honored this year by Concordia University, Oregon, with the dedication of The Richard P. and Jane L. Roe Shakespeare Authorship Research Center. Dick Roe is survived by his wife, Jane, by his children, Cameron, Betzi, Richard and Hilary; and by his 10 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. He lost his younger son, Richard Matthew, in 2003 to cancer. Richard "Dick" Roe was greatly admired and loved by his family and his many friends, and was warmly regarded and respected by his professional colleagues and the scholarly community, not only in California, but across the USA and internationally. Even-tempered, fair, generous and always interesting, Dick will be deeply missed by all who knew him. On December 20, 2010 Dick will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn in a private family ceremony. The Roe Family will hold a memorial gathering on February 13, 2011, 2:00-5:00 PM at the Cal Tech Athenaeum, Pasadena, in his honor. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in memory of Richard P. Roe to the benefit of Foothill Vocational Opportunities, c/o Jody Short, 789 Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103.