John Royster Roberson

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 12:24

John Royster Roberson, a resident of Old Greenwich for 42 years, died Friday evening at Greenwich Hospital of leukemia. Mr. Roberson was the son of Irving Royster Roberson and the Reverend Zebulon Vance Roberson of Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, Va.

He received a bachelor of arts degree in International Relations and a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Virginia. He also studied at the University of Grenoble, France, under a Rotary Fellowship. In 1955 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and studied at the Army Language School in Monterey, Calif., to serve as a Mandarin Chinese specialist for military intelligence, and saw duty in Tokyo and Okinawa, Japan until 1958.

Mr. Roberson was an editor and writer at Holiday magazine in Philadelphia, Pa., and New York City, and was later a copywriter at the N.W. Ayer advertising agency in New York City. Until his retirement he was a senior staff editor at Reader’s Digest Condensed Books in Chappaqua, N.Y. He wrote articles for many magazines and was the author of three history books for adolescents: China From Manchu to Mao, Japan From Shogun to Sony (later republished as Japan Meets the World), and Transforming Russia.

Mr. Roberson was very active in the Presbyterian Church. He served as clerk of session at the Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, as a deacon at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, and in many offices at the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich, including deacon, elder and chairman of adult education. Mr. Roberson was a founder and president of the Science Education Center of Fairfield County and a longtime member of the International House of Japan. He was a passionate world traveler throughout his life.

He is survived by his wife Charlene, son David, and daughter Kathryn.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 2 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich. Memorial gifts may be sent to the church at 1 West Putnam Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830.