Michael G Roskin

Born in Columbus, OH on April 25,1939, Mike grew up in Los Angeles and attended North Hollywood High School, graduating a year early. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1960 and earned a Masters in Political Science from UCLA three years later. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from American University after completing his first Fulbright in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Following graduation, Mike worked for the Associated Press in Israel during the Eichman trial; he later covered the opening of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin for the AP. During that decade, the 1960s, Mike also served as a diplomat with the United States Information Agency, stationed in Bern, Switzerland and Munich, Germany. After the foreign service, he returned to journalism as an editor at both the AP and The Washington Post.

He was awarded his second Fulbright as an Advanced Teaching Fellow at the University of Toulouse in France. A year later, he returned to the states to become a professor of Political Science at Lycoming College. At Lycoming, Mike built the political science department and authored several definitive textbooks in comparative politics: Countries and Concepts, International Relations and Political Science: An Introduction as well as other books. In addition to his time at Lycoming, Mike taught as a visiting professor at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA.

After his retirement from Lycoming in 2008, he received his third Fulbright, to teach at the University of Macau in China. Mike and Therese relocated to Nashville, TN and Rockland, Maine in 2010. In Maine, Mike devoted his time to his Tuesday Discussion Group, one of his favorite activities, and photography, a lifelong passion.

Mike continued to write new editions of his textbooks, review books for several journals, and of course contribute his bi-weekly columns for the Camden Free Press up until the end of his life.

Mike is survived by his wife of 54 years, Therese, his children Alexander Roskin (Brook), Pamela Roskin, and Constance Baker (Dudley); and his grandchildren, Abraham Roskin-Levine, James McLean Baker, and Alexander Baker.

A celebration of Mike and his impact on the world will be held this summer in Rockland, Maine.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Lycoming College or the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.