William Charles Roberts.

About William Charles Roberts

William Charles Roberts was a Welsh American pastor and academic administrator. A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, he began his ministerial career at a Presbyterian church in Wilmington, Delaware. He spent nearly two years pastoring in Columbus, Ohio, before his wife developed an illness and the couple were advised to return to her home state of New Jersey, where Roberts continued preaching. He led churches in Elizabeth, New Jersey, for the following eighteen years before a four-year stint with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) Board of Home Missions. He then was elected president of Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois, where he stayed for six years. During this period, he was elected moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly. After six more years working for the PCUSA, Roberts accepted the presidency of Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky, in 1898. He spent five years leading Centre before dying in office in November 1903; he presided over Centre's 1901 merger with Central University in Richmond, Kentucky, and finished his term as president of the consolidated Central University of Kentucky.