Roger Charles Vergin, 88, of The Villages, FL, died July 22, 2026. Born August 2, 1937, in Brainerd, MN, to Walter and Hilda (Leerssen) Vergin, Roger is survived by his wife, Dr. Rosemary Rainbolt Vergin of The Villages; his sons, Gregory Charles Vergin, Eric Roger Vergin, and David Michael Vergin, all of Bellingham, WA; and his brother, Brian Michael (Debby) Vergin of Grand Rapids, MN.
Roger’s first job began at age six selling newspapers outside his parents’ store in Brainerd. He graduated from Brainerd’s Washington High School in 1955 as senior class president, co-valedictorian, and was voted Most Likely to Succeed and Best Writer. He attended St. Olaf College and earned a BS, MS, and Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Minnesota.
At 26, Roger began his academic career as Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley, subsequently serving at the University of Washington as Associate Professor, Canada’s Simon Fraser University as Full Professor, Penn State University Malvern as Professor and Director of the MBA program, as Academic Vice President of Heald College, San Francisco, and Executive Vice-President of The American College in Bryn Mawr, PA. He was an expert in production management, finance, organizational planning, and entrepreneurship and authored more than 50 research articles and several textbooks. During a sabbatical, he managed actor Marlon Brando’s finances and oversaw construction on Brando’s private island Tetiaroa, later chronicling the experience in his memoir, BRANDO, With His Guard Down. Roger was also a lifelong entrepreneur who developed real estate, founded manufacturing companies, owned restaurants, and built a range of businesses from childcare centers to a California gold mine tailings processing plant. In his eighties, he continued to finance building projects on Bainbridge Island and maintained his Bellingham Roosevelt Business Center until his death.
Roger discovered Masters Track and Field competition at age 71 but was diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia (ET) at 74. Because of the 24/7 caring support of his wife Rosemary, he was able to continue competing nationally and internationally while taking daily oral chemotherapy and enduring leg pain. He maintained a decade-long win streak in the triple jump and won gold in that event at the WMA meet in Poland in 2022. He also won 74 national championships, earned over 900 medals, was ranked No. 1 in the world 20 times, captured multiple national titles in the decathlon, heptathlon, and pentathlon, set numerous USATF records, and was named M85 Athlete of the Year.
Roger’s ET progressed to myelofibrosis (MF) in 2024, ending his track career. He turned his attention to establishing the Roger C. Vergin Track & Field Scholarship through the Brainerd Public Schools Foundation. In 2025 he volunteered for a clinical trial at Fred Hutch Seattle to help test the efficacy of emerging PET-MF treatments. He told his oncologist a week before his death that he would continue treatment and die fighting. He did exactly that.
Roger will be buried beside his parents at Elmwood Cemetery in Rockford, MN.
A celebration of his life will be held at noon Tuesday July 28 at Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services 3975 Wedgewood Lane in The Villages. Minnesota arrangements by Peterson Chapel, Buffalo. Photo credit: One: Rosemary Vergin. Two: Cover National Masters News Aug/Sept 2018