Born in Penobscot County, Maine,[1] he attended the Mount Hermon School for Boys in Gill, Massachusetts and received an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in 1950, and a law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1956.
He "served in the United States Army from September 1951 to October 1953 and was stationed in both Japan and Korea".
[5] On November 30, 1979, Governor Joseph E. Brennan named Roberts to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
[5] In 1980, President Jimmy Carter nominated Roberts to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Maine vacated by George J. Mitchell, but Carter's term as president expired without a vote on confirmation being taken.
[2] Roberts was killed in an automobile accident in Portland, Maine, less than six months after retiring from the court.