May 16, 2007 Roger K. Bentley

Notice has been received from his family that our classmate, Roger K. Bentley II, died on May 16, 2007 at the CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, N.J., of congestive heart failure. He had also suffered from cancer.

Born in Trenton, N.J.on April 2, 1938, Roger graduated from the Peddie School before being admitted to Dartmouth. During his days in Hanover, he played soccer and was captain of the school's Golf team. He also was in Air Force ROTC in Hanover.

He had a leading role in the establishment, in his Sophomore year, of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity, which he served as pledgemaster. His friend and fraternity brother Tom Judd '61 remembered Roger for his infectious laugh and zest for life. Nicknamed "Roger the Lodger" from the tag line of a limerick popular at the time, he became one of the most popular "Crows" during those early years of the fraternity.

His roommate, John Stephenson, remembers him as "one of the happier souls I knew" at the College, smiling, humorous and devoted to weekend trips to the women's colleges of Smith and Mt. Holyoke at a time when Dartmouth was an isolated, all-male school. John says, as do his class friends Roger Hanlon, Bruce Booth and Howard Jelinek, that he was "eternally up," as John put it, "and that is a gift."

Roger was a government major at Dartmouth, and long debated with himself before deciding on law, rather than medicine, as a career. He went to law school at Cornell University. Characterized as a "country lawyer," by his wife, Roger was a general practitioner in Hightstown, N.J., serving as a partner of Isadore I. Zlotkin from 1967 until Mr. Zlotkin died in 1990, and after that operating a one-man office. He also served as Attorney to several towns' Zoning and Planning Boards and was Municipal Attorney for Washington Township during the 1980s.

He served two terms as President of his local Lions Club and as district Lions Parliamentarian. A life long avid golfer who customarily played in the low 70s, he was club champion at the Battleground Country Club in 1976.

Roger is survived by his wife of nearly 45 years, Jane, his daughters Pamela Pezzullo, Patricia Hoke, and Meredith Bentley-Barlow, and six grandchildren, Lydia Pezzullo, Anthony Pezzullo, James Pezzullo, Simon Hoke, Joseph Hoke and William Barlow.

The family asked that contributions in his memory be made to Camp Quality, N.J. at P.O. Box 264. Adelphia, N.J. 07710. Camp Quality serves children with cancer. Also, to read the family's obituary and see a picture of Roger and the golf course he loved, go to http://www.netcentricnj.com/bentley/ on the Internet

Ken Reich