John W. Roberts ’57
John W. Roberts ’57 died of a blood infection on May 21. John graduated from Mt. Hermon School in Gill, Massachusetts. At Dartmouth he majored in psychology and was a member of Phi Delta Theta, the Undergraduate Council, and Dartmouth Christian Union (president). He graduated with honors. He had an abiding interest in social justice that he pursued throughout a career that began at the East Harlem Protestant Parish in New York City. The Protestant chaplain at Dartmouth, who had been a mentor, encouraged him to attend Union Theological Seminary, from which he graduated with a master’s of divinity. He preached and advocated for racial justice as a Presbyterian minister in disadvantaged parts of New York City, Chicago, and Cleveland. A subsequent organizer job at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Chicago led to the 1970 offer to head the Massachusetts chapter, which he directed for 32 years. John lived for decades in Cambridge, Massachusetts, bicycling to and from work at ACLU’s Boston headquarters. Colleagues said his most lasting case was Moe v. Secretary of Administration and Finance. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, local politicians sought abortion access restrictions. ACLU prevailed in the Moe case, which gave far-reaching abortion access in Massachusetts even after Roe was overturned. John was an avid gardener. He also delighted in going on conservative talk shows as a liberal guest. He is survived by his wife, Kathy, two daughters, one son, and several grandchildren.
