[citation needed] In 1960, Roellecke received his doctorate with a thesis exploring the limits of the judicial power held by the Federal Constitutional Court.
[citation needed] Following this, later the same year, Roellecke was appointed the role of professor at the University of Mannheim, where he assumed the chair for public law and legal philosophy, a post he held until his retirement in 1995.
[citation needed] Roellecke was held in high regard by readers of the Frankferter Allgemeine Zeitung, known for writing numerous reviews throughout his career.
He passed away on 30 October 2011, and an obituary was dedicated to him in the newspaper on 3 November 2011, which began with a quote from German sociologist Niklas Luhmann: "Everything could be different - and I can change almost nothing.
In 1999 he received the Merit Cross 1st Class and became honorary member of the German Research Institute for Public Administration in 2001.