John W. Roberts

John W. Roberts passed away on May 21, 2024, at the age of 89. He was married to Kathy Roberts (Dreyer) for 64 years. He was the beloved father of Alison, Jonathan and Caitlin and cherished grandfather of Natalia, Sasha, Olivia and Niamh.

Born on Feb. 24, 1935, in Glen Ridge, N.J., he grew up in neighboring Bloomfield with his older sister, Beverly, who predeceased him in April of 2022. His father, John W. Roberts Sr., was a banker, and his mother, Dorothea Williams Roberts, was an artist and schoolteacher. He attended public schools in New Jersey and attended high school at Mount Hermon School in Gill, MA. He graduated with a psychology degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary.

He went to work as a Presbyterian minister, first in Chicago, and then with the progressive Inner City Protestant Parish in Cleveland where he created The Outpost, a program to bring suburban and inner city parishioners together.

Following Bloody Sunday in Selma Alabama in 1965, John traveled to Selma to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He returned to Chicago in 1968 to work as a community organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1970 he became the second Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, known as CLUM, after the retirement of Luther Macnair. He settled with his family in Cambridge.

Under his 32-year stewardship, CLUM battled for civil rights causes, both popular and unpopular, in the Massachusetts court systems as well as instituted educational programs like The Bill of Rights Project for high school students, developed by Nancy Murray. He was passionate about racial justice and education. In addition to high-profile CLUM cases, he is also remembered for the day-to-day operations, which included a working atmosphere of mutual respect.

He was committed to being at Boston’s Gay Pride every year, walking with the CLUM group and staffing the CLUM table.

His friends, family, children and grandchildren honed their understanding of how fundamentally essential the Bill of Rights is to democracy over family dinners and conversations.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s John was involved with social justice work in Central America. He and Kathy, along with other Cambridge residents, met with then Mayor of Cambridge, Alice Wolf, and a resolution was passed by the City Council for Cambridge to become a Sanctuary City. He remained involved in Sanctuary City work over decades. John and his daughter, Caitlin, went together on a sister city delegation to San Jose Las Flores. He participated in a Witness for Peace delegation to Nicaragua.

For many years John and Kathy participated in The National Day of Mourning at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth MA in lieu of the Thanksgiving Dinner tradition.

John was a member of the “Walter’s Wheelers” bicycle team with his dear friend Steve Schnapp. The group rode from Plymouth to Provincetown every year for many years to raise money for the American Lung Association.

In his retirement, John traveled to Palestine and Palestinian refugee camps. On a return from their first trip together, John and Kathy were charged by the trip’s leader, Elaine Hagopian, to share with people what they had observed and learned. They both took this charge seriously and John focused the remainder of his life working with organizations such as the Cambridge Bethlehem People to People Project and the former Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

John hosted the radio program “This Week in Palestine” every Sunday morning, broadcast on WZBC. He agreed to take over hosting duties after the passing of the show’s creator Sherif Fam and he carried on that mission for ten years until his own death. The show features discussion of issues relevant to the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom.

John loved spending me with his children and grandchildren in Wellfleet and Provincetown where he enjoyed boating, oystering, bicycling in the dunes and eating PJ’s clam chowder.

He loved gardening and could often be found tending to his vegetables and listening to the Red Sox on his portable radio in the backyard of his Cambridge home.

John’s family is planning a celebration of his life at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:

John W. Roberts Fund for Racial Justice at the ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts  

The John W. Roberts Fund for Racial Justice supports all of the ACLU of Massachusetts’ Racial Justice work which currently includes a campaign called "BIPOC to the Ballot Box," a nonpartisan public education campaign by the ACLU of Massachusetts and its partners. The campaign aims to build voter awareness and engagement in municipalities with large or growing Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Through coordinated outreach and knowledge-sharing, BIPOC to the Ballot Box is working to hear from community members about what issues matter most to them, understand the barriers to civic participation, and encourage everyone to use their vote as their voice.

Tax deductible donations can be made online at ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts. Please specify “John W. Roberts Fund for Racial Justice” under Special Messages section. Checks can be made payable to the ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts with “John W. Roberts Fund for Racial Justice” noted in the memo and sent to One Center Plaza, Suite 850, Boston, MA 02108.

1for3.org

Working with partners in the West Bank for over ten years, 1for3 has identified four dominant challenges in the everyday lives of Palestinian refugees. Like families anywhere, the intersection of water, food, health, and education is critical for the everyday wellbeing of refugees. Living under occupation exacerbates challenges to preserving the robust relationship between water, food, health, and education that is already under threat in camp conditions. 1for3 works at the intersection of these four components. We call this intersection the Water - Food - Health - Educaon Nexus, and our programs support these four areas of need. Our work focuses in Aida and Al-Azza refugee camps in Bethlehem City, and Balata refugee camp in Nablus City in the West Bank.

Tax-deductible donations can be made online at: 1for3.org or by check made payable to 1for3.org and sent to 58N. Border Rd., Winchester, MA 01890.

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