Background
Bruce Stuart Roberts was born on February 4, 1930, in the Bronx adjacent New York suburb Mount Vernon.
1954
Bruce Roberts attended the University of Florida where he completed his postgraduate studies in 1954
Photo by Roberts of the newly discovered singer, Elvis Presley, at the Tampa National Guard Armory in the late '50s
Suzy, one of Roberts most famous photos which was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City
Bruce Roberts graduated from New York University in 1951
Bruce Stuart Roberts was born on February 4, 1930, in the Bronx adjacent New York suburb Mount Vernon.
Bruce Roberts became interested in photography around the age of 14 and delivered newspapers to earn money for his hobby. He later used his photography skills to pay for his Bachelor of Science degree from New York University. Bruce Roberts graduated from New York University in 1951 and joined the US Air Force, serving from 1951 to 1953. After his stint in the Air Force, he attended the University of Florida where he completed his postgraduate studies in 1954.
Following his postgraduate studies, Bruce Roberts moved to North Carolina, taking a job as a photographer for the local Hamlet News-Messenger newspaper, in Hamlet, North Carolina. During his early years in North Carolina, his photos were published in national and international publications such as Life, Look, Time, and the Saturday Evening Post.
In 1958 Bruce Roberts was hired as a staff photographer for the Charlotte Observer newspaper, working for editor Pete McKnight as part of a group of young up-and-coming photographers. In 1959 and 1961, he was named "Southern Photographer of the Year" for his work with the Charlotte Observer. He also took first place in the National Press Photographers Association news pictures competition in 1959, 1960 and 1961. In 1962 Bruce Roberts took the position of Director of Photography for the News Journal paper in Wilmington, Delaware, where he remained until 1963.
In 1963 Bruce Roberts began to work as a freelance photographer. During this period he and t his then-wife Nancy Roberts co-authored several books, including "The Governor" in 1972 and "Goodliest Land" in 1973. Later they wrote books about the supernatural, releasing books such as "Ghosts and Specters: Ten Supernatural Stories" in 1974 "America's Most Haunted Places" in 1976, and "Southern Ghosts" in 1979. Roberts photographs also appeared in the children's book "Where Time Stood Still: A Portrait of Appalachia", which was named one of New York Times' best children's books of 1970.
In 1978 Bruce Roberts became the director of photography for Southern Living magazine, a position he held until 1982. In 1982 he took on the role of senior travel photographer for the magazine, focusing on depicting the Southern United States. In 1992, after 14 years with Southern Living, Bruce Roberts left to pursue freelance photography and to focus on contributing to various books, especially books on the lighthouses of North Carolina which became his passion.
In the fall of 1994, while living in Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Bruce Roberts and his second wife Cheryl Shelton-Roberts co-founded the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society dedicated to preserving North Carolina's lighthouses and to spreading awareness about their history. Starting in 1997 he, working together with his wife Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, published his first book on the historical lighthouses, called "Lighthouse Families". In subsequent years the Roberts published further books on Lighthouses in and around North Carolina.
Quotes from others about the person
Reg Murphy. Atlanta Journal and Constitution editor (1968): "One-day last summer, Bruce Roberts flew from his home in Charlotte to Atlanta to photograph a magazine story. Working almost nonstop for 36 hours, Roberts exposed 27 rolls of film. The end product was one superb photograph of an Atlanta policeman working in the slums. It is that kind of relentless effort that has made him one of the best in his profession. But it is also compassion, the kind of compassion that allows a parent to live and love a child who is retarded. That makes him the artist he is."
From 1958 through the mid-1980s Bruce Roberts was married to Nancy Roberts, a renowned author. The two met when they both worked for the Charlotte Observer and married in 1958. The couple had a daughter, Nancy, and a son, David, during their marriage. David Roberts was born with Down Syndrome. which was chronicled in Bruce and Nancy's book David, published in 1968, describing their experiences with raising a child with Down Syndrome in the 1960s. They divorced in the mid-1980s with both Bruce and Nancy remarrying later on.
Bruce Roberts married Cheryl Shelton, now Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, a retired schoolteacher, historian, and prolific researcher of North Carolina lighthouses, keepers’ genealogies, keepers’ families oral histories, lifesaving stations, and shipwrecks.