Michael Roh

1948 - 2024

Michael Roh

February 6, 1948 - April 9, 2024

Columbia, South Carolina - Michael Roh, "the world's most interesting man," a Columbia social fixture, raconteur, bon vivant and speaker of Czech, Persian, French, Russian and English died on Tuesday, April 9th 2024, from complications due to multiple cancers. He was born in Tehran, Iran on February 6th, 1948 to parents who were high school sweethearts. They were from southern Bohemia in the Czech Republic and fled Czechoslovakia in 1947 as it was under German occupation and they did not want their son born there. When WWII broke out, Michael's father had been sent to Iran because of Czech business interests there and had to arrange for a sailboat on the Caspian Sea to bring Michael's fleeing mother from the Czech Republic to meet him in Tehran just before Michael was born.

Michael spoke Czech at home, Persian on the street and Russian to his newly adopted White Russian uncles. Michael was enrolled in Tehran's Presbyterian Missionary School and was there for 12 years, where he learned English, or, as he liked to say, "American." He left Tehran to attend the University of Massachusetts in Amherst but preferred spending time with his friends at Smith College. He graduated from UMass in 1966 and spent the summer in Paris working for La Comtesse Evelyne d'Auzac de Lamartine.

When Michael developed an interest in political geography he began following a professor whom he liked, Richard Walker, at the Institute of International Relations at the University of South Carolina. In the summer of 1970, Michael visited the Czech Republic seeing his mother and his two grandmothers for the last time. In January of 1971 and while in Columbia he met Susan Carrison and they fell in love. They dated for several years until her untimely death on July 3, 1973, in an automobile accident. Michael's life changed after that and he did not work for a while. He did some modelling and acted at the Workshop Theater finally landing a job in town planning, including the Harbison Development Company. While beginning a PhD. in 1978 at the University of South Carolina, Michael lost his parents and his citizenship in Iran to the Islamic Revolution and the authorities who could not figure Michael out tried to put him on trial. He laid low and started the process of getting his U.S. citizenship.

While pursuing his Masters at the University of South Carolina he began working at the Columbia Museum of Art and continued on there as Director of Facilities for 37 years, retiring in July of 2018. A celebration for Michael will be held at the Episcopal Anglican Church of the Ascension, 5190 Highway 261, Rembert/Hagood, South Carolina at 2:00 pm on Sunday, June 2nd, 2024. Memorials in Michael's memory can be made to The Columbia Museum of Art at 1515 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201.

Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.