George Charles Roche III(1935-2006)
George Roche III accomplished many things throughout his life, but he will be remembered most for what he did at a tiny college in the middle of nowhere in southern Michigan.
As the president of Hillsdale College from 1971-1999, he took the school from a modest endowment to one larger than $200 million. Not bad for a school of 1,200 students in a region filled with colleges and universities. This endowment and the impressive fundraising machine Roche built is what allowed Hillsdale to exist fully independent of funding from the federal government. For students that meant--and still does--that aid for the ~$20,000-per-year education has to come from private sources.
In 1977 the US Department of Health Education and Welfare tried to force Hillsdale to submit to various federal regulations. The college lost a 1984 Supreme Court case, and under Roche's leadership, it did what was necessary to insure its students could receive an education without federal student aid.
Many a student owe a debt of gratitude to Roche because of this. Were it not for his leadership, we of limited means wouldn't have been able to attend Hillsdale and receive the blessings of a classical liberal arts education.
His presidency of Hillsdale ended in scandal and intrigue, and men of good faith will disagree about Roche's culpability in what happened. That is a discussion for another time and place. Regardless of the accusations and complaints leveled against him, the indisputable fact is that George Roche fought the battles of the past and built the school into what it is today. Now Hillsdale sails under another captain, but moves forward under the same flag to fight the battles of today and tomorrow. George Charles Roche III made that possible. May he rest in peace.
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