Our Class Salutatorian

Roger E. Montgomery died on June 12, 1987, at age 47.  He was a unique and brilliant individual.  He achieved all that he sought.  As our Class of 1958 Salutatorian, Roger was #2 in our class, on the basis of his class letter grade achievements during grades 10, 11 and 12.  The Echowan staff named Roger "One of the most industrious men in the world." 

Roger was one of our American Foreign Exchange Students -- living in Vienna, Austria part of our senior year.  He was a class officer, on our track team, ethics committee, and student council -- even as a sophomore.  During all three senior high years, Roger was a member of Canteen, High-Y, and Latin Club, and worked as a journalist on the "Echo", which was our school newspaper.

Roger graduated from Amherst College, with a B.A. (History Honors), Magna Cum Laude in 1962 and continued on to Harvard Law School, graduating with an L.L.B. (Law) in 1965.  As the third generation of his family practicing law in Minnesota, he then joined his father's Minneapolis law firm, [Richard, Montgomery, Cobb and Bassford] and practiced law there until 1968 when he was named Special Assistant Attorney General and the first head of the Antitrust Division for the State of Minnesota.

In 1971 Roger went to work for the Pillsbury Co. as Senior Attorney for Burger King Division.  He transferred to Assistant General Counsel at the Pickwick Music Co. in 1981 and shortly thereafter was recruited as a Senior Saff Division Attorney for the John Morrell Co. in Chicago.  In 1984 he returned to private practice in Minneapolis, specializing in Corporate Organization and Franchise Development. 

He was a great assist to our Planning Committee for our 25th Class Reunion in 1983, held at the Lafayette Club on Lake Minnetonka.  His membership in that Club was our entre to a fabulous evening that some of you will fondly recall.

Roger was very active in community and civic affairs over the years.  He was a member of the Board of Stewards of Plymouth Congregational Church, President of the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association where he devoted many hours with its board attorneys to zoning and occupancy enforcement and improvement of neighborhood liveability for families.  He was President of the Amherst College Alumni Association of Minneapolis, and Officer in the Minnesota Harvard Law School Club.  He was a Board Member of the Minnesota State Bar Association, and Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section of the Minnesota State Bar. 

Roger had a lifelong interest in music, showing that interest even in junior and senior high school.  He was Treasurer and a member of the Amherst Glee Club that toured Europe while he was in college, and was a long-time member of the Minneapolis Bach Society.

Roger married and is survived by his wife, Diane and her son Thomas S. Montgomery.  His father, long-time Minneapolis Attorney, Edmund T. Montgomery, died a few months before Roger and his mother, Harriet, passed away soon before that.  Roger was an only child and his parents' passing weighed heavily on him.

Those of us in the Class of 1958 will always remember Roger Montgomery as a man of letters whose unquenchable desire for learning and proving his merit and mettle was surpassed by his actual deeds and accomplishments.  He was far too young, at age 47, to leave this world and escape the love and attention that would always have been heaped upon him for all that he meant to our St. Louis Park Class of '58.