It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague William Roeger, a long-time Principal and a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. Bill died on October 30, 2016 after a long illness. He was 69 years old.
Bill was an active and engaging litigator who tried cases in Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe, Luzerne, Berks and Chester Counties. His distinguished career included a substantial amount of motor vehicle, real estate, commercial, personal injury and orphan’s court litigation.
A partner with Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin for 10 years, Bill began his legal career drafting legislation for the Legislative Reference Bureau, which is part of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Upon graduation from law school, he took a position as part of the Corporate Law Department of the Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., handling a wide variety of legal matters. After approximately six months, and particularly in view of his physics background, he was selected as lead counsel on the billion dollar nuclear power plant that was being built by PP&L at the time. Bill left PP&L for private practice eventually practicing in Perkasie, PA, in the Roeger & Walker firm.
Bill was the recipient of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers’ (PATLA-now known as the Pa. Association for Justice) Special Service Award (2003) and the Milton Rosenberg Award (1997). (This Award is given to a trial lawyer whose devotion to injured victims, qualities of leadership, and service to the organization best represent the life of the late past PAJustice president after whom the award is named.) A longtime member of PAJustice’s Board of Governors and a 20+ year member of its Executive Committee, In addition to PAJustice, Bill was a member of the American Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association (now the American Association for Justice), the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Bucks County Bar Association. He lectured and wrote extensively for the continuing legal education arm of PAJustice on trial practice subjects. Bill was also a member of the Perkasie (Bucks County) Rotary Club since 1975 and served as President of that organization. Heavily involved in local politics, Bill served on the Bucks County Republican Executive Committee for seventeen years. He also served as Vice President of the Lutheran Community at Telford “Fund Board,” which managed the money and investments of the entire retirement community.
After receiving his undergraduate degree in physics from Muhlenberg College in 1969, Bill was a Distinguished Graduate from the United States Air Force Officer Training School in 1970. He received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law (now part of Pennsylvania State University) in 1973. His hobbies included scuba diving, weight lifting and architecture and design.
Bill was an outstanding litigator and a tremendous friend to all of us. Famous for his tenaciousness, we were privileged to call him our partner. Also, he was known for his “Roegerisms” (Roeger terminology for different terms, i.e. “young ‘uns”, “that dog don’t hunt”, and one of our favorites: “”If you put the rabbit in a hat, then don’t be surprised if when you reach into the hat, you find a rabbit.”)
Bill is survived by his wife Ellen, two children Rocky and Matthew, and four grandchildren.
