Dennis Michael Roberts of State College, passed away peacefully at Penn State Hershey Medical Center on Thursday morning, May 1, 2025. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 19, 1941, the son of Marjorie Ellen (nee’ Faddis) Hogan Roberts and Archie Dennis Hogan, and stepson of James Hamlin Roberts. After attending schools in Virginia and North Carolina, he graduated from Boca Ciega High School in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1959, where he was on the football team and the track team. He enjoyed many racquet sports, including tennis, racquetball, and squash, plus he had a lifelong love of golf, which he learned to play from his grandfather, Thomas Faddis. He was a big sports fan, enjoying watching football, wrestling, golf, and tennis.
While in high school he met his wife, Judy, and after attending St. Petersburg Jr. College together, they were married on October 14, 1961. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology in the first graduating class of the University of South Florida and then moved to Tallahassee, Florida for his doctoral degree. Upon graduating from Florida State University with his Ed.D in Educational Psychology in August 1967, they moved to Toronto, Canada where he was a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) the graduate school of the University of Toronto. In 1970 he moved to Greenville, North Carolina, where he was a professor at East Carolina University. Three years later, in 1973, he took a position at Penn State University. At Penn State he taught Ed Psych 400 and 401, Statistics in Educational Research, in the graduate program of the Dept of Educational and School Psychology and Special Education in the College of Education. He wrote five statistics textbooks, including Descriptive and Statistical Topics, plus Introduction to Minitab. In over 30 years at Penn State, he taught hundreds of students and advised students in their dissertations. He also taught courses in Independent Learning and was involved in a group who shared information about AP Statistics in high school. He retired in 2003 from Penn State as a Full Professor Emeritus of Education.
Dennis enjoyed traveling and he and Judy visited 49 states and several foreign countries, and in retirement traveled to Hilton Head, South Carolina, during the winter. He was an avid photographer and documented his children and grandchildren’s growing-up lives through many pictures, and shared his great sense of humor with them.
He loved to garden and make grape jam from the grapes he grew in his backyard, which were given to friends and family at Christmas. He grew peach, cherry, and pear trees; grapes, blackberries, and blueberries; melons and pumpkins; and a variety of vegetables.
Dennis is survived by his wife of 63 years, Judith Ann Roberts (nee’ Withers) and two children, Cherel Abigail Adam and David Paul Roberts and his wife Sarah, along with four granddaughters, whom he adored, Jessica Lea Jarczynski and her husband Jake and great-grandson Jamie Adam Jarczynski, Rachel MacKenzie Adam, Faith Alyssa Roberts, and Zoey Taylor Roberts. He has one sister, Linda Sue Gentles of Tennessee, and a brother Thomas Roberts, who predeceased him.
A private family service will be held.