September 19, 1937 – March 1, 2026
Dr. Michael N. Roach was born on September 19, 1937 in Olney Texas. His parents were Betty Pauline Brown Roach and Irving Gaines Roach. Raised in Olney, Texas, he was brought up in a Methodist home and encouraged to pursue his interest in the arts.
After high school he attended North Texas State University in Denton for two years before enlisting in the U. S. Army. He served three years, most of that time spent in Germany serving on the first Honest John missile sites and on the Czech border during the Cold War.
He returned to North Texas State University after his service time and completed a B.S. in Art Education in 1963. In 1965 he completed an M.S. in Secondary School Administration. While working on his Doctorate in College Teaching in Art, he was recruited by the U.S. Government to serve as a Civilian Advisor in Viet Nam for a year.
In 1967 he was hired at SFASU where he taught until 1999. He completed his Doctorate of Education in College Art in 1970.
In 1990 he married Robbie Lacomb Roach, an artist and college art instructor. She brought her children, Robert Eric Lacher and Arnie Melissa Lacher Powell to the marriage, and Arnie’s son Kristian James Lacher, grandson. They have always been like his own, close to his heart and were present with him through the last week of his life.
Dr. Roach taught with dedication and an innate desire to help his students grow to their greatest potential. His passion for photography led him to bring the Art Department at SFA into the Digital Age, when he wrote a grant that was awarded for the establishment of the department’s very first Computer Art Lab in 1997.
For him, teaching was a calling, and he truly loved his students. His former students have continued to consult with him and stay in close contact with him to this day, something he considered one of the greatest rewards he could have ever earned.
A memorial event will be held at a later date, to be announced in the coming weeks.