Roll, Charles W(eissert), Jr. 1928-2002
ROLL, Charles W(eissert), Jr. 1928-2002
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 26, 1928, in Trenton, NJ; died from coronary and vascular complications May 12, 2002, in Lawrenceville, NJ. Polltaker and author. Roll was an expert on public-opinion polls that helped predict elections. Educated at Princeton University, where he earned an A.B. in 1950, and Columbia University, where he received his master's degree in 1953, Roll served in the U.S. Army until 1956. He became study director for the famous Gallup Organization in 1958, remaining there until 1977. During this time, he devised ways to figure out which people were most likely to vote, and developed several polling methods that increased the accuracy of forecasting public opinion. Until the early 1990s Roll was the director of the highly respected Pennsylvania Poll for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He was also the author of two books written with A. H. Cantril: Hopes and Fears of the American People (1971) and Polls: Their Use and Misuse in Politics (1972; revised, 1980).
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
New York Times, May 23, 2002, p. C14.