Joseph Wilson Rogers

Joseph W. Rogers, former resident of Las Cruces, passed away on July 28, 2020, in Albuquerque. He was born to Joseph and Florida Rogers on October 13, 1925, in Pensacola, Florida. Joe served in the U.S. Army’s 86th Infantry Division between 1943 and 1946 and received the Bronze Star. After his discharge from the military, he earned a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State College and graduate degrees from the University of Washington. He taught at Kansas State University from 1962 until 1968, when he came to New Mexico State University as Head of the newly created Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He retired from NMSU in 1991. During his academic career as a criminologist, Joe authored or co-authored two books, over forty scholarly articles, and numerous book reviews, textbook supplements, and other published works. Joe loved teaching at NMSU, with his efforts formally recognized by receipt of the Donald C. Roush Award for Teaching Excellence in 1991 and the NMSU Award for Promotion of Racial Harmony in 1992. His proudest achievement was serving with the pioneers of the NMSU Honors College in which he continued to teach for more than twenty years. In 2004, Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honorary, was established on campus, and was named the Joseph W. Rogers-Beta Chapter in his honor. After retiring from NMSU, Joe shifted his attention to research on a longstanding personal interest, the American circus. He produced several scholarly articles on various aspects of the circus industry and served as an officer in Circus Fans of America. Joe married Doris Gay Ellsworth por vida in 1953, with whom he shared a loving family. He is survived by daughter, Diana Rogers Elledge, her husband Chuck of San Diego and granddaughter, Nicole Margaret Elledge of Washington, D.C.; by daughter, Suzanne Rogers Brannan and her husband, Paul of Albuquerque, New Mexico; by son, Jefferson Rogers of Martin, Tennessee; and son, David Rogers, his wife Tara, and granddaughter Adeline Francis Margaret Rogers of Snohomish, Washington.