Roe died on July 25, 1988, after having been ill with AIDS for several years. He received master’s and doctorate degrees in piano performance (1973, 1983) from Indiana University School of Music, where he served as teaching assistant to his renowned mentor, Menahem Pressler. He was an associate professor of piano at Eastern Kentucky University until 1986, having also taught at Simpson College (Indianola, IA) and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. At the end of his life, he taught privately in Washington, DC. He had appeared in recital with orchestras from the age of 12, gave recitals at New York’s Town Hall, Guild Hall, and the Phillips Collection of Washington, DC, and was a featured soloist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra while a student at IU. He was a winner of the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in 1975. After his death, his parents established a scholarship in his honor at Indiana University; it is awarded annually to piano students at the IU School of Music.