The Secretary reported with regret the death of Walter M. Roth, Superintendent of Utility Development, Plant Service, on July 2, 1961. The Regents adopted the following memoir:

The death, on July 2, of Walter M. Roth, Superintendent of Utility Development and for many years Superintendent of Plant, is deeply mourned by his former colleagues and his other friends throughout the University. He was in his sixtieth year.

Mr. Roth entered the service of the department, then called Buildings and Grounds, in 1923 as an Assistant Engineer, and concurrently enrolled in the College of Engineering. Having previously completed two years at Alma College, he earned his baccalaureate in civil engineering in 1926. He was made Assistant Superintendent of his department in 1935 and elevated to Superintendent ten years later. In 1959, because of failing health, he undertook less strenuous duties.

The period of Mr. Roth's tenure as Superintendent of Plant witnessed the most intensive possible use, and the latter unparalleled expansion, of the physical facilities of the University. It was in good measure his forethought and devotion that sustained the University's standards of house- and grounds keeping during those difficult years. He united his notable professional gifts with a sense of personal responsibility, going far beyond the demands of formal or statutory obligation. He felt great pride in all of the University's achievements. After Professor Warner G. Rice and Dr. Frank E. Robbins designed the University mace, Mr. Roth carved it from a walnut balustrade taken from University Hall when that building was razed in 1948.

The Regents of the University wish to express at once their gratitude for his past service and their present sorrow. To Mrs. Roth and her son and daughter, they tender their profoundest sympathy.

Regents' Proceedings

July 1961, page 429