Jack L. Roach

Jack L Roach, 95, of Storrs, CT passed away Monday, December 7th, 2020.  Born in Buffalo, New York, he was the son of Edward Roach and Marie Walter Roach.  He served in the infantry in the ETO with the 75th division during the Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Germany.  Discharged in 1946, he attended the University of Buffalo, eventually earning a Doctorate in Sociology.  He joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Connecticut in 1965, retiring in 1987.  Despite his wartime experiences, Jack was a Germanophile.  He was an exchange student in Germany in the late 1940’s, and made many subsequent trips to visit the host family, children, and grandchildren over the decades, maintaining an active correspondence in the German language until the very end.  Jack was a social activist, heavily involved in the protest movement in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and a prolific writer of ‘letters to the editor’ for many years.  He greatly enjoyed his summer cottage at Cape Cod, where he enthusiastically fished, clammed, boated, sailed, and walked.  Jack was predeceased by his extraordinary wife Janet in 2015, and is survived by his daughter Ellen Roach of Roslindale MA, son Brian Roach of San Jose CA, granddaughter Leah Roach of Long Beach CA, and grandson Anthony Roach of Atlanta Georgia.  There will be no services at this time.

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