Walter F. ‘Wally’ Roche Jr.
Dogged career investigative reporter whose legwork with The Sun led to the removal of a state legislator
Walter F. “Wally” Roche Jr., a dogged career investigative reporter whose work during his tenure with The Sun led to the removal of a Maryland legislator, the first since the 1790s, died of heart failure Nov. 25 at Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. He was 75 and resided in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania.
“Wally Roche was a stellar investigative reporter, whose mastery of public records was unmatched in my experience,” wrote William K. Marimow, former editor of The Sun and a Philadelphia Inquirer colleague, in an email.
“Beyond his use of documents, Wally was creative in his approach to stories, using his analytical prowess and surveillance techniques to produce pieces that changed public policy, and in some cases derailed the careers of corrupt public officials,” Mr. Marimow wrote.
“As a colleague, Wally could sometimes be gruff — many editors considered him a curmudgeon — but he had a generous, expansive spirit, and he was a mentor to countless young staffers at The Sun and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Beyond that, Wally was an indefatigable reporter — always arriving in the newsroom long before his colleagues and staying later than almost everyone,” he wrote. “The bottom line: Wally’s work would enrich the pages and websites of any news organization in the nation.”
Walter Francis Roche Jr., son of Walter F. Roche Sr., who worked in government for the City of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and, Annette Couture Roche, was born and raised in Fitchburg.
After graduating from Cranwell Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school in Lenox, Massachusetts, Mr. Roche began his college studies at the College of the Holy Cross, and later transferred to Brandeis University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1969 in theater, which would serve him well in his career as a newspaperman. He later earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Mr. Roche had performed with the High Tor Summer Theatre Company in Fitchburg, but after graduating from college, began his journalism career as a reporter in the Fitchburg bureau of The Worcester Telegram and Gazette. There, he met his future wife, the former Mary D’Amore, who was also a reporter. They fell in love and married in 1970.
Mr. Roche moved to Boston where he worked in the United Press International bureau and later as a reporter for WBZ-TV.
In 1982, Mr. Roche left Boston when he was named chief of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, bureau, and later joined the paper’s staff in Philadelphia where he honed his skills as an investigative reporter.
“He was really good at it and his acting skills let him blend in. He’d go where others would be stopped, sit down, and start taking notes,” said Gary Cohn, who began working with him in 1987 at The Inquirer. “He continually did that.”
Mr. Cohn, who later became a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Sun, recalled being paired with Mr. Roche on a yearlong investigative project into the affairs of Earl Stout, a Philadelphia union leader who was head of District 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Mr. Stout eventually went to prison after being convicted of stealing more than $700,000 in union funds.
“The first thing Wally said to me was, ‘Do you believe in surveillance?’ I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but I said, of course I did, and he was really good at it,” said Mr. Cohn, who now teaches journalism at the University of Southern California, with a laugh. “We would follow Stout’s car and Wally would take down license plate numbers. Every day it was a different Cadillac or truck which he was using union money to buy and then sell them to his pals for a couple of dollars.”
He added: “Wally paid attention to what was in front of him. He had incredible observation skills. He was brilliant at that. As a reporter, he trusted his eyes and instincts and he followed them. He was just unbelievably relentless and very pure.”
At times, Mr. Roche would come off as a rumpled, grouchy presence, but his colleagues said he had earned that right.
“As a person, he could be difficult to get along with, and there were weeks when he wouldn’t talk to me, but I trusted him with my life and I knew he really was a true friend,” Mr. Cohn said. “He also never kissed up to bosses and the more senior the editor, the more difficult he could be to deal with. But he was always kind and patient to young reporters and students.
“Wally was the last person you wanted investigating you if you had done something wrong. I was very lucky to have worked with him and I’m always telling my students Wally stories.”
In a telephone interview, Mr. Marimow said: “He was the epitome of a great investigative reporter. Wally got stories no one else was capable of getting.”
Mr. Roche was an expert at dumpster diving when it came to pursuing possible clues and evidence for a story, said Mr. Marimow, who called his technique the “DRP or Document Recovery Program.”
“He’d go through and review what was in people’s trash and drew a firm admonition from his wife, Mary, who would say, ‘Don’t bring that stuff into the house,’” Mr. Marimow said with a laugh.
In 1996, Mr. Roche joined the staff of The Sun as an investigative reporter, and the next year, teamed with Scott Higham, and began investigating state Sen. Larry Young, “who has turned his legislative office into a source of revenue, generating at least $165,000 in consulting and other fees from public institutions and health care firms with millions of dollars in state business at stake,” the reporters wrote in 1997.
Their work spurred an ethics probe into Mr. Young’s affairs, resulting in his 1998 expulsion from the Maryland Senate, the first time a state lawmaker had been removed by his colleagues since 1797.
“Wally was probably the most dogged reporter I ever worked with. He questioned everything we had because he knew that people lied and lied relentlessly,” said Mr. Higham, who is now a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post investigative reporter.
“If I were a politician and I knew that Wally Roche was investigating me, I’d be terrified. He was a scary good reporter and a master of disguises. He could change clothes and blend into the background,” he said. “If he was investigating a politician, he’d wear a jacket and tie or a union worker, he’d be dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. He’d blend in like a ghost. I learned so much from Wally and his bag of tricks and I wouldn’t have had the career I’ve had without him.”
In naming Mr. Roche the best reporter in the city in 2003, the Baltimore City Paper observed: “The list could go on, but the pattern is clear. The guy gets important stories, and his stories cause important change.”
“He was a giant in our profession,” recalled Candus “Candy” Thomson, a former Sun editor and columnist. “I loved watching him devour piles of documents at his desk. Chomp, chomp, chomp. I used to tell baby reporters, ‘See that man over there? If he wants to ask you questions, be very afraid. Be very afraid. Wally doesn’t miss.’ ”
In 2004, Mr. Roche left The Sun and joined the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times, and in 2011 went to work for The Tennessean in Nashville, where he remained until retiring in 2014. He also maintained a blog until he died.
Naturally, Mr. Roche was an avid reader who also enjoyed crossword puzzles and travel.
Services are private.
In addition to his wife of 52 years, Mr. Roche is survived by a son, Curtis W. Roche of Wuhan, China; a daughter, Maura Rose Roche of Brooklyn, New York; two brothers, John Roche of Nashua, New Hampshire, and Francis Roche of Wells, Maine; two sisters, Mary Roche of Leominster, Massachusetts, and Anne Roche of Manchester, New Hampshire; and a grandson.