Roger Lee Caldwell

Roger Lee Caldwell, age 87, passed away October 10, 2025, in Tucson. He was the son of Roland and Eva Lee Caldwell, born in Van Nuys, California. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1961, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Arizona in 1966. He was a Post Doctoral, National Academy of Sciences Fellow at the Food and Drug Administration, 1966-67. In 1981 he was a Scholar-Diplomat, U.S. Department of State. He was a Professor in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, serving in a variety of positions from 1967 to 2003, including Director of Educational Communications and Technologies, Special Assistant to the Dean and Provost, Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, then the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, and the Department of Communications. In Public Service, he served on several committees for the City of Tucson and Pima County involving environmental quality and transportation. He considered himself an interdisciplinary, futures-oriented, professional generalist. In 1990 he began to study the violin and enjoyed playing waltzes, his favorite type of music. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ellen; two daughters, Anne and Karen; and his two sisters, Marti Singleton and Suzanne Sommerer. He was a sweet, kind, and generous man. In his work life, he always tried to do the best job he could for the good of his institution and never cared about getting any credit for himself. A celebration of his life will be scheduled shortly.