James Roherty

James M. Roherty, age 99, of Madison, passed away on Monday, September 22, 2025, at All Saints Assisted Living.  He was born on March 4, 1926 in Janesville, WI.  He was the first of four children of Lewis F. and B. Marian (McCarthy) Roherty.  Raised to the age of ten on a farm in Center Township, Rock County, he represented himself ever after as a farm boy.  Graduation from Madison East High School (Class of 1944) was followed by World War II service in the U.S. Navy.  This included participation in the Navy Color Guard at Hyde Park, NY for the burial of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (April 1945) and assignment to Seventh Fleet staff at Shanghai for the first half of 1946.  While the latter did not qualify him as a “China hand” it would impact his future.

He married Maxine Mitchell of Omak, Washington on September 11, 1948 in Seattle.  They were blessed with three children, Sean, Brian and Bridget.  After forty-eight years of marriage, Maxine would be taken into the company of God.  On June 4, 1999 fifty-five years after graduation from Madison East, he would marry 1944 classmate Marion Rooney Endres.  Thereby four stepchildren, Tim Endres, Janet Wenger, Larry Endres and Carol Jamar joined the family.  Happy years were spent in DeForest, WI and at their condo in Williamsburg, VA along with visits to Palm Springs, CA for family gatherings.

He earned A.B. and M.A. degrees in History and Government at the University of Washington (Seattle) and the PhD at the University of Wisconsin (Madison).  Initial teaching appointments were at Marquette University and Mount Mary College in Milwaukee.  A memorable decade, 1963-1973, ensued at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA where he was Professor of Government and Chairman of the Department of Government.  A professional and social collaboration with Colonial Williamsburg was an added dimension much valued by the entire family.  He avidly concurred with then W&M football coach Lou Holtz’s conclusion that “Davis Y. Paschall was the best college president I ever worked for”.  Meaningful as well in this decade was an appointment to NASA headquarters for the epical “Apollo 11” year (1968-69).  It provided the privilege to work all too briefly with another outstanding administrator James Webb.  And the occasion arose to go to the top of the Vertical Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral to lay hands on “11” before it departed on its fateful journey.

In 1973 he accepted an invitation to chair the newly established Department of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina (Columbia).  This chapter would open an extended engagement with the Republic of South Africa, Southwest Africa/Namibia and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.  An academic career concentrated in national security studies was enhanced through interaction with defense and intelligence communities in the U.S. and abroad.  Additionally, there were opportunities to lecture at U.S. military institutions, the National Defense College of Japan, Rand Afrikaans University and Oxford. A Trafalgar night dinner in the Painted Hall (RNC-Greenwich) was more than an incidental bonus of the latter.  Poignant friendships gained around the world in the academy and in government dating back to “Husky Days” were treasures.  Yet the sustaining pillars of his earthly sojourn were his family, Catholic faith and the farm idyll.

James is survived by his wife, Marion; son, Sean; daughter, Bridget (Curtis) Barton; stepson, Tim (Mary); step-daughters, Janet (Del) Wenger and Carol Jamar; grandchildren, Anna Daugherty, Daniel, Conor and Kathleen Roherty, Michell and Allison; and many great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 48 years, Maxine; son, Brian (Martha); brother, Paul (Theresa); sisters, Elizabeth “Betty” (Dick) Hagen and Kathleen (Ray) Carroll; step-son, Larry (Erin); and stepson-in-law, Ken Jamar

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, with Father Ryan Ruhle officiating.  Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. until the time of Mass on Wednesday at the church.  Burial will be held at a later date at alongside Maxine in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

To view James’ obituary or to leave a memory, please visit:  www.ryanfuneralservice.com.

“He walked with me on the road to Emmaus”