Melvin R. Roy Ph.D.

Obituary of Melvin R. Roy, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Information Technology and Operations Management
Melvin R. Roy, was born February 13, 1939, in Syracuse, KS, and died May 18 on Hilton Head Island SC. He was the second of four sons of Raymond L. Roy and Viola M. Roy. His father Raymond, a Chickasaw Indian, was born on the Chickasaw reservation near Madill, OK, and moved to western Kansas during the great depression.
He is survived by his wife Joyce of almost 63 years, son, Scott, Sarina daughter in law and granddaughter, Stephanie and daughter, Stacia, two brothers, Jim Roy and Gerry Roy and Gerry's, wife Mikee Jean, sister in law Darlene McGraw and husband Joe, Judy Rule, sister in law and husband Stan. Also, many loving nieces and nephews and two brothers. His older brother, Veryle, died in 2010.
Mel graduated from Syracuse High School in 1957 and was the first in his family to attend college. He graduated from Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia, KS with a BS in mathematics in 1961. As a National Science Foundation Fellow, he graduated from Emporia State University with a Master of Arts in mathematics in 1968. As a Federal Research Fellow, he earned his Ph.D. from The University of Northern Colorado in 1971 majoring in applied statistics with supporting areas in mathematics and computer science.
On July 8, 1961, Mel married the former Joyce Daniels in Ellsworth, KS. Joyce was the fourth child in a family of six children born to William and Ruth Daniels. Mel and Joyce were blessed with two children, a son, Scott, born June 1962, and a daughter, Stacia, born June 1964. Both graduated from Watauga High School. Both children graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, Scott with a degree in economics and Stacia in elementary education. Scott and his wife, Sarina, are currently in business in San Juan, PR, and have given Joyce and Mel their only grandchild, a beautiful granddaughter, Stephanie who is also in San Juan. Stacia is a systems analyst with Laboratory Corporation of America located in Burlington, NC.
Mel began his career as a secondary mathematics teacher in the Kansas Public School system. He began the master's program attending summer NSF institutes at Northwestern Oklahoma in Alva, OK then continued at Emporia State where he graduated in 1968. While working toward the doctorate, Mel taught mathematics and statistics at Weld County Community College in Greeley, CO. He also worked for Project Head Start as a research analyst for the Rocky Mountain Region. Upon completion of the doctorate, Mel took a position with West Virginia State College and The College of Graduate Studies in Charleston, WV where he taught statistics, computer programming, and systems analysis in the Department of Business Administration.
Dr. Roy and his family saw Boone, NC for the first time on Thanksgiving 1972 while visiting a graduate school friend who had taken a faculty position with Appalachian State University. During his visit, Mel met the first Dean of the College of Business at ASU. The Dean asked Mel if he would be interested in coming to ASU to develop a major program in the area of Computer Information Systems to be housed in the Business Education Department. Mel and his family moved to Boone, NC in August 1973 intending to stay 2 years. Twenty-seven years later in July of 2000, Mel retired from the department of Information Technology and Operations Management.
Mel and Joyce were quite active at Providence Presbyterian Church on the island and have, among many other things, joined forces in the teaching of Adult Bible study which was the most important retirement achievement of their lives. He was quite a scholar of the Bible and studied it intensely.
Mel had so many stories from his childhood that he enjoyed telling them to everyone – too many to count!
Mel and Joyce retired to Hilton Head Island, SC where they enjoyed many avocational interests. They both played tennis and golf. They enjoyed bicycling, particularly on the beautiful beaches of Sea Pines Plantation.
There are no plans for a memorial at this time.