Roberts, Donald M., 1926-1998,

Donald M. "Don" Roberts, born 1926 in Michigan, served in the Army Air Corps, Philippines, during World War II. In 1952 he drove to Alaska and began working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage. In 1953 he married Susan Pomeroy of Michigan; they subsequently had four children. Mr. Roberts returned to federal service in Alaska in 1953. He spent two years in Haines and then went to work as enforcement officer in Anchorage for the Dept. of Fish and Game, newly formed after statehood in 1959. He conducted a weekly television show for the department on KTVA. The Robertses moved to Kodiak in 1966, and lived in Fairbanks, 1966-1972, where Mr. Roberts was enforcement supervisor for the northern half of the state. When the protection section of Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game was transferred to the Dept. of Public Safety, he moved from Anchorage to Juneau as deputy director of that division, 1975-1977. He retired in Anchorage in 1979. After retirement from the state, Mr. Roberts worked as a private investigator and security supervisor for Purcell Services on the North Slope. In the late 1980s he began spending part of the winter in southern Arizona where he worked as a naturalist, often exploring wilderness areas on horseback. According to his daughter, Laury Roberts Scandling, "he loved to hunt, fish, hike and visit remote parts of Alaska where his career often took him. He was passionate about conserving Alaska's wildlife and never lost interest in the politics surrounding Alaska's resources." Don Roberts died in 1998. In 2004, his wife, Sue was living in Green Valley AZ. [Primarily from obituary written by Laury Roberts Scandling.].