Overview:
Jean Alfred DesRoches, a Haitian immigrant and father of four accomplished professionals, is being remembered by his family for the sacrifices, discipline and values that shaped generations of success. From his upbringing in rural Haiti to raising a family in New York after fleeing the Duvalier dictatorship, DesRoches embodied the Haitian American immigrant experience. His children—including Rice University President Reginald DesRoches, AT&T CFO Pascal DesRoches, attorney Magalie DesRoches Austin and physician Lionel DesRoches—credit their father’s unwavering work ethic, high expectations and commitment to helping others for their achievements.
Credit: Courtesy / Reginald DesRoches
Rice University President Reginald DesRoches remembers his father as a voracious reader, one who devoured the New York Times from cover to cover during his morning commute from Queens to midtown Manhattan and studied scriptures at night from a well-worn Bible that sat next to a lamp on his nightstand.
The daily routine provides a peek into the life of Jean Alfred DesRoches, a hardworking, resilient, and devoted husband and father of four, who once considered becoming a priest, worked as an elementary school teacher in his native Haiti, and ultimately shifted his focus to a career in accounting.
Courtesy / Reginald DesRoches Credit: Courtesy / Reginald DesRoches
Known to some as Papi and to others as Alfred or Fredo, Jean Alfred DesRoches died earlier this year at the age of 93. As his family approaches its first Father’s Day without him, they are remembering a life and legacy of a man who embodied the classic Haitian American story.
Jean Alfred fled Haiti during the Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier dictatorship, raised a family in New York, retired in Miami and later Houston, and beamed with pride to see his children and grandchildren become wildly successful professionals in law, medicine, business, and education.
Reginald DesRoches is the first Black person, the first engineer, and the first immigrant to serve as president of Rice University. His brother Lionel DesRoches is a nephrologist in New York; his sister, Magalie DesRoches Austin, is a lawyer and the executive deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Design and Construction; and his other brother, Pascal DesRoches, is chief financial officer and senior executive vice president at AT&T.
“They really sacrificed everything, their lives, to leave the only country they knew, the country of their birth, to start new, not knowing the language or really knowing anybody here so that their kids can have a better life,” Reginald DesRoches said in an interview about his father and mother, Marie Thérèse Lanauze DesRoches, who was a nurse. “And, as a result, we were able to do things that nobody would have imagined for kids from Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.”
Courtesy / Reginald DesRoches
Reginald DesRoches said his father, who knew what they were capable of being, offered tough love with an expectation of nothing less than straight A’s and aspirations to become doctors, lawyers, and engineers. He also provided them with an example every day of someone who “lived that hard work.” He said he couldn’t recall his father taking a day off work at Marubeni America Corporation, a global trading company with roots in Osaka, Japan. The elder DesRoches retired in 1997.
“He lived his life in a way that made it easy for us because we followed his example,” his son said.
Reginald added that his and his siblings’ success is just part of his father’s legacy. His parents opened their home, provided advice and help with finding jobs to countless relatives moving to the United States. They served as a gateway to a new life for siblings, cousins and friends.
The second-oldest of 10 children, Jean Alfred DesRoches was born May 6, 1932, on the rural, mountainous outskirts of Petit-Goâve. As a child, he left home during the week to attend Catholic school and returned on the weekends to work on the farm.
After briefly attending seminary school in Port-au-Prince, Jean Alfred earned a teaching degree and later returned to his hometown to work at the elementary school.
In 1957, he met Marie Thérèse Lanauze, a young nurse, who he married a year later. The couple moved to Port-au-Prince, where he served as Bureau Chief of the Department of Finance.
Like many Black men of his generation, Reginald said his father didn’t talk much about his early life, likely because “the memories weren’t great for him.”
He said he learned most of what he knew about his father’s early life in Haiti after his death.
The DesRoches family pose for a photo with Haitian immigrant Jean Alfred DesRoches. Photo Courtesy of Reginald DesRoches
While planning his father’s service he discovered that Jean Alfred was a formidable soccer player growing up. The information helped to explain a lot.
Reginald shared a story during the funeral about how his father, then in his late 70s or early 80s, grabbed a soccer ball his granddaughter was playing with and began juggling it like a professional player.
“I just stood there with my mouth open,” he said. “I didn’t even know he ever touched a soccer ball.”
In addition to his children, Jean Alfred Desroches is survived by four siblings, 13 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
