William 'Bill' Roberts, was Pinellas sheriff

Former Pinellas County Sheriff William T. "Bill" Roberts, a law enforcement officer for more than three decades, has died at 77.

Mr. Roberts, who served as the county's 12th sheriff, from 1975 to 1981, died Tuesday (Dec. 11, 2001) in a Jacksonville hospital. He had cancer, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.

After 22 years with the Sheriff's Office, Mr. Roberts was appointed by Gov. Reubin Askew to succeed Don Genung, who retired.

Genung's chief deputy for about 17 years, Mr. Roberts went on to win the office outright by defeating Ray V. Waymire, a St. Petersburg police officer and administrator.

Five years later, Mr. Roberts announced that he would retire from an office that had become the target of numerous complaints and lawsuits.

Critics pointed to what they called inconsistent discipline policies at the agency. A federal lawsuit paved the way for overhauling operation of the jail.

The sheriff also battled reporters seeking access to department records. In 1981, after a lawsuit filed by the St. Petersburg Times, Circuit Judge Michael N. Athanason ruled that Mr. Roberts had broken state law by keeping a variety of department records secret.

A lifelong Democrat and a mainstay of the local party, Mr. Roberts became a Republican in 1979. He said he wanted to align himself with the party that best reflected what he called his own "conservative philosophy."

His decision jolted Democratic leaders. Until his defection, Democrats had headed the Sheriff's Office since 1930, although Republicans had dominated Pinellas politics since the 1960s.

Born in Evans, N.Y., William Trevor Roberts moved as a child with his family to the Clearwater area. He attended Largo High School. After high school he served in the Navy and worked as a long-distance truck driver.

In 1950, he joined the Largo Police Department. Three years later, he switched to the Sheriff's Office under Sid Saunders. He moved up to chief deputy when Genung was appointed sheriff in 1958, after Saunders died.

Mr. Roberts graduated from the FBI National Academy in 1961. He studied at the Florida Institute of Law Enforcement and graduated from the Executive Development Police Management program.

He was a former chairman of the Pinellas Police Standards Council and a vice president of the FBI National Academy Graduates Association. Mr. Roberts, a Clearwater resident, was a Mason with the Blue Lodge in Largo, a Shriner and Jester.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Madelyn; two daughters, Beverly Anne Roberts, Washington, D.C., and Barbara Jean Heller, Fairfax, Va.; two brothers, Richard, Largo, and David, Hamburg, N.Y.; three sisters, Evelyn Bair, Tennessee, and Gladys Willis and Marjorie Owens, both of Clearwater; and two grandsons.

A service will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Moss-Feaster Funeral Home, Belcher Road Chapel.

-- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.

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