Honoring
Roger Alan Repp

The following is from a bio Roger wrote for a Tucson Herpetological Society presentation in February, 2020 (yep, pre-pandemic!):

Roger Repp came out of his mother’s womb as a herpetologist. Upon graduating from High School, he followed the career-path advice of Ray Pawley, who was then curator of reptiles at the Brookfield Zoo. Ray told him: “Get into a trade, kid, that is where the money is.”  Roger did exactly that, and five years later, he earned his journeyman tool and die maker degree. There was indeed a nice paycheck in that calling [working in Illinois, Florida, Washington, and Arizona, where he retired from his position as the Instrument Shop Supervisor for the National Optical Astronomy Observatory], and any free cash that remained after paying bills was spent in equal parts on gas and beer to get him where the herps could be found. He moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1981, and [after connecting with the THS] his interest in the local herpetofauna exploded into a rabid passion. He served as president of the THS, and was the recipient of its esteemed Jarchow Conservation Award for excellence in southwestern herpetology.

Roger maintained consistent field documentation of all snakes, several lizard species, and all turtles encountered in Arizona from 1989 through 1999, and broadened that dataset to include all herps encountered since the year 2000. In March of 2001, he joined forces with Dr. Gordon Schuett to begin a 15-year long radio telemetry study on four species of rattlesnake, as well as Gila Monsters (Heloderma suspectum). [His field notes are now archived at the Chiricahua Desert Museum, in Rodeo, New Mexico.] 

Roger loved writing about the joy of ‘herping’ and sharing about the beauty of the natural world. He authored or coauthored over 20 peer review papers, and published over 100 herp-related articles in various herp society newsletters. For many years he published a monthly column in the Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society. 

Roger Alan Repp (1954-2025) went home to be with the Lord on November 24, 2025, where he joined his beloved son, Tim; his parents, Ruth and Frank; two brothers, Robert and Ronald; and many other loved ones. Roger is survived by his wife, Dianna; sister, Julie (Arthur); brother, Dan; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. He cherished his family, and loved spending time with them at home and in the wilds of nature. He was grateful for the memories and moments shared with them. 

We close this obituary with Roger’s own words, which he used at the end of his articles: 

“This here is Roger Repp, signing off from Southern Arizona, where the turtles are strong, the snakes are handsome, and the lizards are all above average.”

For more about the life and adventures of Roger Repp, please visit the Tributes section of this website.