Joan Martin Roth, August 28, 1949 — May 18, 2019

Joan’s Obituary Joan Martin Roth PhD, of Wakefield, RI passed away peacefully May 18th after battling kidney disease for more than 15 years. Joan was born in Detroit MI where she attended the Liggett School, and followed by the University of Michigan where she obtained her BA, and thereafter Joan obtained Masters Degrees from Brown University and Harvard University and finally obtaining her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in City Planning. After obtaining her doctorate, Joan taught at UCLA and became on an on-air commentator for a local LA television news station.

Joan taught at courses at several other universities, including Tufts University, before starting several successful companies including an educational toy company. Later in life, she founded College Start Online, which she helped hundreds of students get into college and each year managed to get her students into elite colleges including the IVY League, MIT, and Cal Tech. She helped her student clients obtain millions of dollars in scholarships.

Joan was an accomplished writer. She wrote four books, one of which, Why Cities Go Broke, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Joan was known not only for her achievements and intellectual curiosity and gifts, but for her elegance and grace in the treatment of others especially her student clients.

Joan enjoyed the time she lived in England and was able to travel through out Europe as well as her travels to Egypt, Israel, China and South Africa. Joan was an amazing mother who instilled the values of strength and perseverance. She taught her never give up in the face of adversity and that hard work and dedication always will lead eventually to success and also taught her to be gracious, kind and compassionate.

Joan is survived by her husband Jonathan Roth and her daughter Caroline M. Roth, her siblings Dr. Richard Martin and Arlene Bierman, her nephews and niece Kenneth Dickman, Beth (Martin) Schaefer and David Martin and their families. The family will be holding a private funeral service followed by a remembrance brunch open to all on Saturday, May 25th at the family residence from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the National Kidney Foundation in her honor.

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