(Above) Undated photo of Warden Milton Roth, with uniformed and civilian colleagues, believed taken shortly before in his death in 1968. (Right) Formal photo. Both from the NYCHS-maintained archives. | For 35 Years |
Page 4, Volume XII No. III 1968 of Correction Sidelights. Warden Milton Roth had served 35 years as a member of the Department. He died suddenly, at the age of 61, of a heart attack November 5, 1968, at 49th Street and 10th Avenue, Manhattan.
He had served as Warden of the Reformatory since December 18, 1967, the day Commissioner George F. McGrath promoted him to the highest rank in the uniformed force. He had been serving as Deputy Warden - in - Command of that institution since December 5, 1963. Warden Roth joined the Department September 16, 1933, as a psychologist. Five years later he filed for the position of Correction Officer and was appointed in 1938. He rose to the rank of Captain in 1952; to Assistant Deputy Warden in 1957; and to Deputy Warden in 1962. It was said of Warden Roth that he was a man genuinely dedicated to his work. He unassumingly handled the tremendous responsibility of providing interesting and meaningful programs for the volatile population of sentenced youthful offenders. He was respected and loved by the inmates and their families. The Reformatory program includes a Public School, Manpower Development Training program, a library, counseling, recreation, and intensive housing and classification services. His staff carried out his policies with a loyalty that only a man with his abiding interest in the individual could possibly hope to realize. There was an institutional "esprit de corps" that could be felt by the casual visitor or the veteran correctional employee. The professional and the line correction officer both shared the team spirit engendered by this man. As a Captain in the U. S. Army Military Intelligence, he served on active duty from 1941 to 1948. At the end of World War 11, he joined General Douglas MacArthur's personal staff. Since he spoke Japanese fluently, he was placed in charge of a province in Japan for three years as Military Governor. He retired as Lieutenant Colonel in the U. S. Army Reserves. His wife, Florence, and daughter, Heidi, are his survivors.
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