Obituary of John B. Rogerson Jr.

John B. (Jack) Rogerson, Jr passed away peacefully on July 8th in Pennswood Village, Newtown, PA.  Born on September 3rd, 1922, Dr. Rogerson died 2 months shy of his 99th birthday. The son of the late John B. Rogerson, Sr and his wife Freda of Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Rogerson was the devoted and loving husband of Betty, his lifelong companion who passed away in 2012.  They were soulmates for almost 70 years.  

Dr. Rogerson, a navy veteran, loved music, reading and travel, especially to countries where he could use his language skills.  He received his B.S. degree in mathematics from Case Institute of Technology in 1951, a PhD in Astrophysics from Princeton University in 1954 followed by a post-doctoral fellowship awarded by the Carnegie Foundation.  During his career as a professor at Princeton, Dr. Rogerson took an active lead in developing techniques suitable to space astronomy.  His work with Stratoscope 1 and 2 in which a balloon lifted a telescope 80,000 feet above our atmosphere to film the surface of the sun earned him the appointment of Executive Director of the Princeton Observatory’s Space Telescope Program.  That appointment led to NASA’s launch of the Copernicus Satellite in 1972, an Orbiting Astronomical Observatory that produced significant advancement of knowledge to the astronomy community around the world.  His life’s work produced numerous professional publications.  Dr. Rogerson is listed in “Who’s Who in America” as well as “American Men of Science.”

Professional accomplishments aside, Dr. Rogerson was first and foremost dedicated to his family.  A soft-spoken, gentle individual, he was their cornerstone.  A warm and loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Dr. Rogerson is survived by two sons, Dr John N. Rogerson and wife Eunice of The Villages, FL,  Alan M. Rogerson and wife Chrysa of Tucson AZ, grandchildren Jennifer Azzano and husband Chris (Maj. Gen USAF retired), of Reno NV, Betsy Wolf and husband Derek of Danville, CA, Johnny D. Rogerson and wife Christine of Howell, NJ and Jason Rogerson of Ewing, N.J; Great-grandchildren Allison, Chicago, IL,  Steven Azzano, Stanford Univ, CA, Emmy Wolf, Univ of Colorado, and Drew Wolf, Danville, CA., Jerry and Jake Rogerson, Howell, NJ.  Dr. Rogerson was predeceased by wife Elizabeth “Betty/Nana”and wonderful son, Jerry B. Rogerson.  

The family misses our loving patriarch but takes comfort in the fact that he is reunited with his dear Betty and Jerry.  A private interment ceremony for family was held at the Princeton Cemetery on July 30th, 2021.