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Roger Floyd, Former Head Of Church Conference, Dies At 82

by BERNIE DAVIDOW

August 07, 2013

The Rev. Roger Floyd, executive director of the Capitol Region Conference of Churches from 1982 to 2000, has died. He was 82.

Floyd, of Bloomfield, died of cancer last Friday, his family said.

A memorial service is planned for Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. at United Methodist Church of Hartford, 571 Farmington Ave., Hartford.

Floyd grew up in Naugatuck and was an ordained Methodist minister. Early in his career, he was pastor of the Westville United Methodist Church in New Haven before becoming a minister in Waterbury and then executive director of the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport. He twice tried to unseat the incumbent Bridgeport mayor, John Mandanici.

During his long career, Floyd worked to help victims of economic and racial injustice. In the early 1990s, he was a vocal opponent of a plan to bring casino gambling to Hartford.

For 12 years, he was host of a monthly talk show on Channel 3, and for 16 years had a weekly radio show, his family said.

He wrote a number of op-ed pieces for The Courant. One, published in 1986, spoke of his concern for the poor – specifically, those who had lost their apartments in the Hotel Hartford when the building was declared unsafe. The piece ended this way:

“So, people who are able to pay a reasonable rent are unable to find a furnished room to live in. Why? Because the poor and the near-poor are on no one’s concern list, much less their priority list.

“Hartford’s leaders must shift into high gear and develop unites for single-room occupancy. Recent experience with the residents of the Hotel Hartford has rubbed our noses in the misery that the lack of this class of housing is causing. The quality of a community still should be measured by the level of its concern for the poor.”

Also, according to an obituary released by the family: “He traveled to India and Nicaragua, produced a video on The History of Racism in America, organized countless workshops on Casino Gambling, the Gulf War, poverty and affluence, understanding the Christian Right …. Since retiring in 2000, Roger served as a trustee of the Hartford United Methodist Church, and served on the Executive Council of CT AARP, served on the Board of Directors of the Hartford Chapter of the United Nations Association, self-published three books, and continued to create and lead workshops at Seabury Retirement Community where he and Joy have happily spent the last six years.”