Richard Louis Rogers, age 82, died on March 24, 2026, under the care of Ogeechee Area Hospice, Bulloch County, and East Georgia Regional Medical Center, Statesboro, Georgia, under the care of the medical center's Critical Care Unit and wonderful staff and nurses.
Richard was born June 1, 1943, in Bentonville, Arkansas.
He earned his doctorate of philosophy in psychology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in January 1971. His first (and last) university faculty position (August 1970—June 2005) was at Georgia Southern University and he retired as a professor emeritus in 2005 with 35 years of service.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ruth Ann Neill Rogers from Pine Tree Community, Saint Francis Country, Arkansas; and son, Christopher Louis Rogers of San Francisco, California. He is also survived by nephew, Eric Johnson, wife, Lisa, and daughter, Rachael, of Iowa City, Iowa.
His parents, Max Louis Rogers and Luella Weaver Rogers; and sister, Marjorie Lou Rogers Johnson, preceded him in death.
Dr. Rogers was a wonderful, knowledgeable faculty member in the Psychology Department. He fully participated in departmental curricula and research committee work. He was a member of many departmental faculty committees and campus-wide groups.
Richard received a University Awards in Excellence in Teaching and the Ruffin Cup in David Ruffin’s name.
After retirement, he and five or six or seven mostly retired faculty guys met in the university library to discuss their concerns and joys with the school and the world.
An active sportsman, he loved to play tennis, golf, pool and fresh-water and salt-water surf fish at Hatteras with good GSU friends.
Richard was also the only constant member of a foursome GSU faculty members who had an early Sunday morning tennis doubles game that lasted about 40 years. He returned to golf full-time at Forest Heights Country Club after his retirement from teaching.
As Chris grew up, he and his dad fished and explored computer games and their programing and mysteries of computers software. Richard help Chris' computer interest and launched Chris' lifelong career in computer programming. The family also participated in several "Bike Rides Across Georgia" in the month of June for several years.
Dr. Rogers was also an excellent bridge player, so duplicate and regular "Party Bridge" filled many evening events.
If Richard couldn't play it, he watched it at Southern, on the road or on TV. He had served as GSU faculty athletic representative for College Sports for an 8-year term, a position with a commitment to assisting the university and its student participants in making GSU's college sports experience all it could be in terms of growth and student professional development.
With his health and vision loss of his right field of vision, he could no longer do in-person participation, so he turned to a smaller field, the television, and other even smaller fields, the radio and computer. He followed GSU sports on radio, TV or computer and topped it off with the nationally-televised 2026 Olympics Winter Games.
He loved the Schenkel Invitational collegiate golf competition and was so happy when it returned. He served on the Schenkel Committee and knew all about the golf and the recruits and followed them like a second parent. He continued to follow them after their time at Georgia Southern, even if they didn't continue competitive golf.
During his role as faculty athletic rep, he made three trips to Scotland with the GSU Men's Golf Teams — paying his way and that of a student golfer — and loved every minute of his experiences. Richard supported a graduate assistant in the Psychology Department each year and provided funding for the Men's and Women's Golf teams as well as other interests on the campus.
The family held a celebration of life on Saturday, March 28th, at 3:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Statesboro.
Friends may sign the online register book at www.joineranderson.com.
Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home and Crematory of Statesboro is in charge of the arrangements.
Statesboro Herald, April 2, 2026
Sign the Legacy online guestbook at www.statesboroherald.com.