Dr. James 'Jim' B. Roberts Obituary (1949

James Bark Roberts passed away July 30th, 2021, at his home in Ellensburg, Washington at the age of 72. He was born on April 28th, 1949, in Lynbrook NY to William and Alice Roberts. When he was 2, the family moved to North Babylon NY. They resided there until he was in high school and then settled in Baldwin NY. After high school he attended Utica College, then transferred to Adelphi University where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in philosophy. After Adelphi, James moved to Illinois to attend Southern Illinois University where he received his master's degree in social work and later his law degree. After law school he helped start the law firm Ebel, Roberts, Weiss and Easterwell, where they worked tirelessly on human rights cases, even getting awarded a grant from the Campaign for Human Development. This helped fund their work for prisoner rights at the Marion federal prison. While working these cases James met and started working with Leonard Peltier on religious rights for incarcerated minorities, especially First Nation and Islamic minorities. During this time, he was instrumental in helping form SCAM, the Southern Counties Action Movement, which helped start community development boards, install free lunches for the community center and helped fight housing discrimination in the towns of Herrin and Colp Illinois. While there James also took a position teaching at SIU in their School of Law and trying cases at their legal clinic. In the mid 1990s James relocated to Ellensburg Washington after accepting a teaching position in the Law and Justice Department at Central Washington University. He taught there until his retirement in 2011, spending several of those years as Chair of the Department. While working as a professor, James also volunteered with many community organizations, to include Victim Offender Mediation Project, Dispute Resolution Center, The New Hope Council, and the Crisis Line of Kittitas County. After retirement, he was especially fond of working with the I.O.O.F., and even asked that in lieu of flowers please send donations to the IOOF Cemetery in Ellensburg. He is survived by his mother Alice, his sisters Linda and Laura, his wife Deborah, his 3 children from his first marriage, Christopher, Johanna, and Andrew, as well as his stepchildren from his second marriage, Jim, Tiffany, Brigitte, and Tasha, 13 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. In remembrance of James, there will be a service held at 1:00 pm at the IOOF Cemetery in Ellensburg Washington on August 21st, 2021, followed by a Celebration of Life at the American Legion Hall.