Jean Alfred Desroches, Haitian-American who guided his kids’ prominent rise, dies at 93
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On his first day in New York City in March 1969 after arriving from Haiti, Jean Alfred Desroches bought a copy of The New York Times, boarded a subway and read it from cover to cover — a daily ritual that reflected his lifelong interest in politics and world affairs.
That curiosity would later bring him into the presence of political leaders, including President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, and former Haitian president René Préval. Those encounters at the Coconut Grove home of his daughter Magalie and her husband, Jean-Philippe Austin, were the result of the achievements of his children.
“He lit up at our house” when he met Préval and the Obamas, Austin, a Miami physician, recalled about this father-in-law of 40 years.
Desroches, known as Alfred to most and Fredo to those closest to him, died on March 19 in Houston. He was 93. His life will be celebrated with a funeral Mass in Miami at 10 a.m. Saturday at Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church, 110 NE 62nd St.
Austin remembers that when Desroches met the Obamas he left speechless, a rare occurrence for him. “He told Maggie that he would never in his wildest dreams imagine that his child would host the leader of the free world and the first black president in her home, and he would be there,” said Austin, chief of radiation oncology at the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center.
“I so admired his work ethic, his love for his children and grandchildren, and his commitment to his late wife and my mother-in law,” Austin added.
Four successful children
A Haiti-born educator who later became an accountant in the U.S., Desroches began his career teaching elementary school in Petit-Goâve, a rural town southwest of Port-au-Prince, and later served in the Bureau of Finance. He and his wife, Marie Thérèse, who preceded him in death after 53 years of marriage, placed a strong emphasis on education and discipline, helping propel their four children into prominent professional roles.
Among them is Reginald DesRoches, the first engineer, first Black person and first immigrant to serve as president of Rice University in Houston in 2022.
“He set an example of hard work, resilience, dedication to family and humility,” Reginald DesRoches said. “His legacy lives on in his children and grandchildren.”
The other children have also had successful careers: Lionel is a nephrologist in New York; Magalie is a lawyer and currently the executive deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Design and Construction, and Pascal is CFO and senior executive vice president at AT&T.
Reginald DesRoches and his siblings said every sacrifice made and every hardship endured by their parents was an act of love that built their character.
Jean Alfred Desroches was born on May 6, 1932, in the rural outskirts of Petit-Goâve, one of 10 children. He spent his early years working on the family farm and attending L’École des Frères de l’Instruction Chrétienne, a Catholic school in Petit-Goâve, an experience his family said instilled discipline and faith that guided him throughout his life.
He graduated from Lycée Faustin Soulouque and briefly considered the priesthood before leaving the seminary to pursue teaching. After earning a degree from L’École Normale Supérieure in Port-au-Prince, he returned to his hometown as an elementary school teacher.
In 1957 he met Marie Thérèse Lanauze, a nurse from Jacmel. They married on Dec. 30, 1958, and moved to Port-au-Prince. There, Desroches rose to become a bureau chief in Haiti’s Ministry of Finance. A French government scholarship in 1966 took him to Paris, where he interned with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, an experience that led him to shift toward accounting.
Amid the hardships of the François “Papa Doc” Duvalier dictatorship, his wife emigrated to New York in 1968 to work as a registered nurse. Desroches followed a year later with their four children. The family settled first in Brooklyn and later in Queens, where they remained for decades.
In New York, Desroches worked as an accountant for Marubeni America Corporation. During his daily commute from Queens to midtown Manhattan, he continued to read his favorite newspaper, The New York Times, from front to back.
As one of the first in his extended family to establish himself in the U.S., Desroches and his wife opened their home to relatives arriving from Haiti, offering housing, guidance and help finding work.
Upon retiring in 1997, he became active in church communities in Florida, including St. Raphael Catholic Church in Lehigh Acres and St. Hugh Church in Coconut Grove.
After his wife’s death, Desroches moved to Coconut Grove and, in 2022, to Houston, where he lived at the Village of Southampton assisted living community. He was known there for his warmth and was widely called “Papi” by staff and residents.
“One could say that Papi Desroches, as we all called him, embodied the classic Haitian American story: leaving Haiti during the Duvalier dictatorship, building a life in New York and later in Miami, raising four exceptional children and living long enough to see his grandchildren and great‑granddaughter flourish,” said Edwidge Danticat, the award-winning Haitian American writer and close family friend.
“Just as remarkable, though, was his humor and humility,” she added. “Whether he was sharing stories of his early struggles as a newly arrived immigrant over Sunday dinner or returning from his weekly food runs to Port Saint Lucie with fresh fruit for his neighbors, he moved through the world with extraordinary generosity. He treated everyone the same, whether gardener or president, and that quiet strength and grace, made him a giant in my eyes.”
In addition to his four children, Desroches is survived by 13 grandchildren: Stefanie, Jessica, Julien, Erika, Adèle, Natalie, Justin, Claudine, Stephan, Andrew, Dominique, Jacob and Shelby; one great-grandchild: Joséphine; four siblings: Raymonde Myrtil, Adeline Fontin, Joseph Desroches, and Paulette Pierre; and a host of cherished family members and friends.
