Education is Roy Roberts' secret to success

Jennifer Chambers:

Roy S. Roberts' path to the top job at Detroit Public Schools began long before he made headlines as General Motors Corp.'s highest-ranking African-American executive.

It began before he stepped into the White House Rose Garden to receive the American Success Award from President George H.W. Bush in 1989.

That path began near a cotton farm in rural Texas in the late 1930s, before Roberts was even born.

"The big white guy in town had a cotton farm. He came down and talked to my father and said: 'You have seven kids that are old enough to pick cotton. I want them down there Monday morning,'" Roberts, 72, said in his office in Detroit's Fisher Building, where he serves as emergency manager for DPS.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 29, 2011 1:45 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas