Following his graduation from Yale University in 1902, Walter F. Roberts became associated with his father in the firm of John A. Roberts & Company, conducting a large department store in Utica, of which concern he is the vice president and treasurer. The city of Utica numbers him among her worthy native sons, and he was born on the 21st of July, 1877, his parents being the late John A. and Marion (Vosburgh) Roberts, of whom more extended mention is made on another page of this work.
In the acquirement of an education Walter F. Roberts attended the Utica Free Academy, where he became a member of the Epsilon Tau Pi Society, and afterward studied at Lawrenceville from 1894 until 1897. He spent the years 1897 and 1898 as a student in Phillips Academy of Andover, Massachusetts, and then matriculated in Yale University, from which he was graduated in 1902. While attending the last named institution he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and sang with the Yale University Quartet and Glee Club. His excellent educational training proved of considerable value to him when he became connected with his father's dry goods business, and his sound judgment and splendid executive ability have been strong elements in its steady expansion and continued success. He is officially identified with the firm of John A. Roberts & Company in the dual capacity of vice president and treasurer and is also a director of the Oneida County Trust Company and the Mutual Box Board Company of Utica.
In 1914 Mr. Roberts was united in marriage to Miss Mary Daisy Stewart of Atlanta, Georgia, daughter of the late Joseph Alexander and Caroline (Robinson) Stewart, who united two very old and very large southern families. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are the parents of three children: John A. and Walter Stewart, who are students in the Groton School of Groton, Massachusetts; and Caroline Stewart, who attends the Utica Country Day School. Mr. Roberts supports the men and measures of the republican party, believing that its principles contain the best elements of good government. He has membership in the United States Chamber of Commerce and was a director of the Utica Chamber of Commerce in the years 1913 and 1914 and 1916 and 1917. During the past five years Mr. Roberts has served as president of the Associated Charities, of which he was one of the founders, and he likewise occupies the vice presidency of St. Luke's Home and Hospital. He holds a life membership in the Fort Schuyler Club and also belongs to the Tennis Club, the Sadaquada Golf Club and the Yahnundasis Golf Club, for he is very fond of the sports on court and links. For a great many years Mr. Roberts spent his summers at Bass Rocks, Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he was a member of the board of governors of the Bass Rocks Golf Club and served as president of the Bass Rocks Improvement Association. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in Grace Episcopal church. He is widely known as a man of unfailing courtesy and of most kindly spirit, capable and resourceful in business, loyal in citizenship and actuated by a progressive spirit in every relation of life.