Friday, Jan. 7
January 7, 2011Tuesday, Jan. 11
January 11, 2011
Dr. Roland J. Pellegrin, 87, a native of Chacahoula, La., died Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010.
Dr. Pellegrin was a professor emeritus of sociology at Pennsylvania State University.
A veteran of World War II, Dr. Pellegrin served as a medic in the European theater. He was among the first wave of troops to enter Berlin at the end of the war.
After graduating from Terrebonne High School in Houma, Roland earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in 1947 and a Master of Arts degree in 1949. In 1952, he completed a Ph.D. in sociology and anthropology at the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Pellegrin came to Penn State in 1973 to head the Department of Sociology. He retired in 1986. Previously, he had been the director of the Institute for Community Studies at the University of Oregon from 1961 through 1973. Prior to coming to Oregon, he led the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University.
The author of numerous publications on a wide variety of topics in educational administration and the social sciences, Roland’s research interests included work in industrial and post-industrial societies; innovation in organizations; the sociology of work, occupations, and professions; social organization; and social change. He was a member of the American Sociological Association, the Southern Sociological Society and the Pennsylvania Sociological Society.
Roland loved to read. He was equally happy with P.G. Wodehouse or de Tocqueville. As a social scientist, he was particularly fond of works that involved other societies, other times, and other points of view.
Roland drove his family across the country almost every summer when his boys were young. After retirement, he and Jean were able to travel the world, visiting Europe, Asia, South America and the South Seas. Fluent in several languages, Roland loved to meet local people and talk to them in their own tongue.
Dr. Pellegrin was active in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, Oregon, and attended the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, Pa.
He is survived by his wife, Jean; sons, Stephen (Mary Anne) and Robert (Elizabeth Ohmer) Pellegrin; and four nieces and two nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Octave and Claire Lajaunie Pellegrin.
A memorial service will be held at a future date to be announced by the family.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.
