Dr. Robert E. Roper, 80, passed away at home in Laguna Beach on Christmas Day, 2013.
He was born in Kewanee, Ill., on Oct. 1, 1933, to Dr. Robert Wilson Roper and Florine Effie Roper. He attended Illinois Wesleyan University as a high school senior, joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity, graduated one year early with a pre-medical bachelor of science degree in 1954. He graduated from Missouri’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in 1958. He interned at Long Beach’s Pacific Hospital in 1958. He joined the practice of Dr. Vincent P. Carroll in general and surgical medicine in 1959 in Laguna Beach.
He married Janet Carol Tysdale on Dec. 10, 1960. They made their home and raised their sons in Laguna Beach.
Dr. Roper served the Laguna Beach community from 1959 until 1998 when he retired from daily practice. He practiced private primary care medicine from 1998 until his passing.
Dr. Roper served as president of the medical staff from 1972 to 1973 at the former South Coast Medical Center, also serving on all of the medical staff committees through the years since, including as the first chairman of the family practice department and as chairman of the medical executive committee. He was a member of Rotary for over 30 years.
He was on staff at the former South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, now Mission Hospital, as well as the former Santa Ana Community Hospital, now known as Western Medical Center. He also consulted with patients at Newport Beach’s Hoag Hospital.
Janet, his wife of 53 years; son Robert and his wife Bobi; and son Richard and his wife Leslie and their sons Alex and Nicholas, survive him.
Memorial services will be held Sunday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. at Laguna Presbyterian Church with the reception immediately following on the church grounds. The family requests in lieu of flowers, that gifts be made to Mission Hospital Foundation in memory of Dr. Robert Roper. Gifts will be used for the Mission Hospital Laguna Beach campus. Please mail to: 27700 Medical Center Road Mission Viejo, Calif., 92691.
