Edgar M. Roach, Jr.

Ed Roach’s struggle with pancreatic cancer and its complications ended April 1, 2026. We will miss his grin, special laugh, and good humor which never left him. Edgar Mayo Roach, Jr, was born in Pinehurst, NC, auspicious for an avid golfer, June 2, 1948, to parents Susie and Edgar M. Roach, Sr. Ed and his family later moved to rural Leaksville (now Eden), NC, where Ed spent his childhood through high school years. After undergraduate college years at Wake Forest University, where he was a Sigma Pi, he met and married his wife of 55 years, Deborah, in 1970.

They lived in Eden, NC, for a year, where he worked at the Eden News, earning a NC journalism award for his writing and money to go to Law School. They moved to Chapel Hill, NC, for him to enter the UNC School of Law; he earned a J.D. with Honors, in 1974, while also serving on the Board of Editors of the North Carolina Law Review

He then served as Law Clerk to the Honorable H. E. Widener, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He and Deborah moved to Abingdon, Va., where Judge Widener conducted his court. While living in Abingdon, the Court of Appeals met in Richmond, VA, monthly, where Ed interviewed with Hunton and Williams for an associate job. After a few years of long hours, he became a partner, then moved to Raleigh, NC, in 1981, to establish a Hunton and Williams Raleigh office, incorporating with an existing firm. In his legal practice he represented power companies in their rate base hearings, working in several states—NY, Kansas, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina among them. During this time, he served as a member Hunton and Williams Executive Committee as well as the managing partner of the Raleigh office, developing its practice and mentoring young lawyers.

After years of travel to represent various power companies, he became a corporate lawyer for Virginia Power, moving to Richmond, VA. He served in several capacities there and with the parent company, Dominion. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Dominion, and, finally, as Chief Executive Officer of the Dominion Delivery Companies which included Virginia Power plus four other delivery companies. He always said “they were just trying to find something I could do.” During his time there, he and Deborah moved to Pittsburgh, PA, for a consolidation of power companies. In Pittsburgh, he enjoyed serving a term as President of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh. He even delivered the opening pitch of a Pirates game.

In 2003, he decided to retire early and move back to NC, choosing Chapel Hill since Deborah wanted to live there. He became a Board Member of the NC Golden Leaf Foundation, then served as its Chairman for one term (2004-2007). He enjoyed reviewing many grants to eastern North Carolina for endeavors and education to replace the tobacco industry there. Former Governor Mike Easley said that “Ed’s creative mind really provided basis for the project to buy Spirit Airlines, in 2007”, and recruit it to the eastern part of North Carolina, providing jobs and improved quality of life for those communities. Airbus has now purchased Spirit and plans to expand to offer even more jobs. Ed was proud that North Carolina has used and invested its tobacco settlement monies so well.

As proprietors of a restaurant in Chapel Hill, Azure Grille, from 2006-2010, Ed and Deborah enjoyed meeting so many people from Chapel Hill and beyond, as well as its food. He always said the restaurant “was a success, just not profitable.”

During the restaurant years, the Raleigh office of McGuire Woods asked him to come out of retirement to work with them on some energy law projects. He was a partner there for six years, training young associates in energy law, retiring again in 2015.

Ed’s work and retirement years were full of travel, especially for golf endeavors, enjoying the courses of many countries, from Scotland, Ireland and England, to Australia and Tasmania; from the Old Course in St. Andrews to Royal Melbourne, Australia, as well as Barnbougle Dunes; and, all over the United States. He often said he played bad golf in some really pretty places, but he played well enough to make a hole-in-one at three different courses: Old Chatham, Eagle Point, and Diamond Creek! As much as he enjoyed playing golf, he also enjoyed telling others about courses, recalling every hole with his steel trap mind, and helping others plan golf trips.

In addition to his wife Deborah, he is survived by two sons; John, of Wilmington, NC, and Key West, Florida; Ted and his wife, Leah Bergman, and grandchildren, TJ, Rose and Mitch, of Chapel Hill, NC. He and Deborah enjoyed playing with the grandchildren, taking them often to the NC Zoo, museums, trips to Florida and a great trip to Yellowstone National Park and Montana.

As Ed received his cancer diagnosis, he looked at Deborah and said he had had a good run, a full life. To all his former colleagues, friends, and golf partners, please know how much he enjoyed the association with you. At his request, there will be no visitation or funeral, just fond memories of his love of life, his intelligence and historical knowledge, folksy sayings, quick wit, golf stories and jokes, that “special” grin and “really special” laugh, as well as his knowledge of people far and wide.

He asked that memorials go to the Deanna Day Carolina Covenant Memorial Endowment Fund. As the first ones in our immediate family to go to college, the Covenant’s mission to educate other first generation students is important to us.

Gifts can be made online:

https://unc.live/MemorialGiftDay

Checks could be mailed to:

UNC Chapel Hill

University Development Office

Memo: The Deanna Day Carolina Covenant Memorial Endowment

140 Friday Center Dr.

Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Many thanks to the health professionals at Duke and UNC who provided their best knowledge and skills to combat his pancreatic cancer…he appreciated every minute of life and every extra minute he received from his cancer treatments.

Please feel free to add your pictures and anecdotes below, we would love to hear your stories!