It could be argued that Sánchez Vilella was influenced by the youth movement that the island was experiencing countrywide during the 1960s, a period where many social areas in Puerto Rico, including television, music and sports, were being introduced to fresh, younger personalities.

[7][8] In October 1967, Governor Sánchez Vilella and Jeannette Ramos married in a civil ceremony held in Humacao, Puerto Rico, just two days after his divorce from Dapena was finalized.

[7] His marital problems were brought to center stage during the 1968 gubernatorial campaign, given the still-conservative Puerto Rican moral values of the time, including the stigmatization of divorce.

[8] His goals of revitalization and change led to a public break with former governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, who was still party leader.

The Puerto Rican sculptor Tomás Batista created a bust in his honor, and it is located in the city of Ponce, at the Parque del Tricentenario.

[11] He died on 24 March 1997 and was buried at the Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro in Ponce, Puerto Rico[12][13] which he had claimed as his adoptive city.

In 1997, Governor Pedro Rosselló signed into law a bill introduced by then senator Kenneth McClintock converting a major highway built by Sánchez Vilella between Ponce and Mayagüez into the "Roberto Sánchez Vilella Expressway", honoring not only his service as Governor but as Secretary of Public Works.

[citation needed] The University of Puerto Rico's School of Public Administration, where he served as a professor, bears his name.