Roger Stiller

Roger died February 18, 2021, age 76.  He was diagnosed with liver cancer on February 18, 2016. He also lived with prostate cancer which was diagnosed in 2009.

Roger is survived by his wife of 33 years, Jamison Leigh; their two sons Michael Stiller and Matthew Stiller; his sisters Cindi Shaw, Patti Stiller-Oge, and Beth Hamil, and brother Christopher Stiller; and many nieces and nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his dad Roger A. Stiller, his mom Mary Stinchcomb Stiller, and his brother Tim Stiller.

Roger was born in Annapolis, Maryland while his dad was a naval officer on a destroyer during World War II. He grew up on the east coast. When he was 18 he joined the army and became a medic in the 82nd Airborne Division. While he was in the army his family moved to the northwest suburbs of Chicago, so he resettled there after completing three years of military service.

He worked as a hospital technician, and eventually took a job as a computer operator. He then trained to become a computer programmer, which is the career he had most of his working life. He enjoyed rock climbing, mountain climbing and weight lifting. He liked to ride fast motorcycles, and was still riding his Hayabusa in his seventies. He enjoyed gardening, especially native prairie plants, and planting and tending to the trees in his large backyard.

He taught himself woodworking and made almost all the furniture in his family home. He briefly had a small woodworking business after he retired from computer programming.

Roger enjoyed listening to music, especially classical guitar towards the end of his life. He read books, mostly science fiction or fantasy, and watched video, mostly science fiction, science, history or nature shows.

Late in life he started learning classical guitar. He joined the guitar club at the Ela senior center, which he continued to participate in when it became a Zoom meeting. He enjoyed his weekly get-togethers with his buddies at Starbucks, which also became a Zoom meeting.

He died at home, as he wanted, with his wife at his side. He will be cremated, as he requested, with just the immediate family present.

Roger would like it if you planted a native tree, shrub, or perennial plant in your backyard, or elsewhere, to remember him by.