June 26, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Obituaries

Bayard Henry Roberts

Bayard Henry Roberts

Bayard Henry Roberts, 96, formerly of Chestnut Hill, died June 8 at Bryn Mawr Hospital from complications of pneumonia.

At the time of his death, Mr. Roberts was a resident of Beaumont at Bryn Mawr, where he and his late wife, the former Louise McIlhenny, had lived since 1987. Mrs. Roberts died in 2004.

Until his retirement in 1970, Mr. Roberts had been a labor lawyer for the Pennsylvania Railroad and later served as corporate secretary.

He was an officer in the Navy during World War II and participated in the Battle for Leyte Gulf and the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and the U.S.S. Lexington.

Mr. Roberts was born in Bala, the son of Isaac Warner and Caroline Henry Roberts.

He attended the Montgomery School and graduated from Saint Paul’s School, Concord, N.H. He was a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

After his retirement, he was a consultant to several nonprofit organizations and worked at the Schuylkill Valley Nature Center. He was a volunteer at the Travelers Aid Society, the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and the Friends of the Wissahickon.

Mr. Roberts and his late wife were avid gardeners and enjoyed bird watching, fly fishing and racing and cruising in their sailboats along the Maine coast. An ice skater, he helped found the Wissahickon Skating Club in 1956.

Mr. Roberts is survived by three daughters, Louise Roberts Johnston, Sydney Roberts Rockefeller and Patricia Roberts; six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren, and loving friend, Frances D. Borie. A fourth daughter, Selina Roberts Ottum, died in 1990.

A Memorial Service will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at Saint Mary’s by-the Sea, Northeast Harbor, Maine, and at 4 p.m Friday, September 19, at Saint Christopher’s Church, Gladwyne.