Roeper History, Roeper Origins, George and Annemarie Roeper

1910, Young George Roeper

George Alexander Roeper was born in Hamburg, Germany, on September 7, 1910. He spent the first years of his life with his family in Kobe, Japan, where his father supplied materials for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. They returned to Germany in 1916 for safety during World War I.

1918, Young Annemarie Bondy

Annemarie Martha Bondy was born in Vienna, Austria, on August 27, 1918. At that time, her father, Max, served in the German Army, while her mother, Gertrud, was in medical school and studied psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank. After the war, Max completed his doctorate in art history, while Gertrud completed medical school and psychoanalytic training.

1929, The Marienau model

The Bondys became educators after the war, committed to creating a school to nurture their students’ emotional and ethical lives while challenging them with a forward-thinking, internationalist curriculum. In 1929, after several moves, the Bondys settled into Marienau, a beautiful 300-acre farm near Hamburg. At 13 years old, George Roeper became a student of the Bondys, where he met Annemarie. Today, Marienau, seen here, is still a school and looks much as it did.

1939, Leaving Home

As the Nazi Party solidified its control over Germany, the Bondys were increasingly at risk because of their Jewish heritage. They first moved to Switzerland and then to the United States. George Roeper, who was not Jewish, emigrated, too, because his life was at risk for having helped the Bondys obtain papers that would let them emigrate more safely. The Bondys arrived in New York City on April 6, 1939. George and Annemarie, forbidden to marry under German law, promptly married at New York City Hall on April 20. They are seen here at Atlantic City in 1940.

1941, Coming to Detroit

After helping the Bondys establish Windsor Mountain School in Vermont, George and Annemarie struck out on their own. Annemarie was invited to become the director of a Detroit nursery school that had been founded by a fellow émigré, psychoanalyst Editha Sterba, while George started the Roeper Grade School. On September 15, 1941, the school opened with nine students in a two-story house (now gone) on Woodward Avenue in Highland Park. By the end of the 1941, they had outgrown the house and moved the school to 668 Pallister Avenue in the New Center area of Detroit. The school remained at Pallister until 1946. The building, seen here, is now a private residence.

1946, Finding a New Home

The student body continued to grow, so with the help of loans from supporters and parents, George and Annemarie purchased land on Woodward Avenue in Bloomfield Hills in April 1946. The hilly, wooded property with a stream appealed to the Roepers’ belief that city children should spend time in nature. They cobbled together transportation to ensure their largely Detroit-based students could travel to the new location. They also changed the name of the school to City and Country School of Bloomfield Hills, as seen in this brochure from 1947. In September the school opened in its new site with 90 children through grade six.

1947, Setting Up Camp

The student body continued to grow, so with the help of loans from supporters and parents, George and Annemarie purchased land on Woodward Avenue in Bloomfield Hills in April 1946. The hilly, wooded property with a stream appealed to the Roepers’ belief that city children should spend time in nature. They cobbled together transportation to ensure their largely Detroit-based students could travel to the new location. They also changed the name of the school to City and Country School of Bloomfield Hills, as seen in this brochure from 1947. In September the school opened in its new site with 90 children through grade six.

1948, The Remarkable Mariann

Fresh out of college, Mariann Hoag joined the staff as George’s secretary in 1948, but soon became omnipresent and indispensable, involved in every aspect of the school’s operations. She “retired” in 1997 but chaired the Financial Aid Committee – a process she had created -- until her death in 2009. George and Annemarie’s son, Peter, remarked at her memorial service that, by all rights, the school ought to be called the Roeper-Hoag School, given the depth and breadth of her contributions.

1955, Leaders in Diversity

City and Country School was the first integrated independent school in Michigan. George and Annemarie had wanted to integrate the school from the beginning, but were advised to hold off until they secured their citizenship. At two years old, Sheila Tanner Cain ‘71*, the daughter of prominent Detroit physicians Drs. Natalia Tanner and Waldo Cain, became the school’s first African-American student in 1955. The Roepers were deeply committed to creating and maintaining a diverse student body, and had already hired their first African-American teacher, Hattie Wyatt, seen here with Suzie Heron in 1959.

1956, Embracing Giftedness

During the Cold War, the national interest in gifted children grew for their potential to contribute to the military race with the Russians. George was concerned about the well-being of gifted children, given that very little was known about their educational and emotional needs. He invited prominent scholars, led by Dr. A. Harry Passow of Columbia University, for a conference at Roeper in June 1956 to develop a curriculum for gifted children. That fall the school became only the second elementary school in the country for gifted children. Any child already enrolled was welcome to stay (and 60% did test as gifted), but the Roepers sought gifted children of all races and economic backgrounds for new admissions. The school achieved national prominence, as evidenced in this article in Look magazine in 1964. Today Roeper is the oldest independent school in the country for gifted children.

1960, Maturing as an Institution

The school reached its next level of institutional maturity in 1960 with the construction of the Middle Building. Hill House had held the entire school – 205 students, all administration, a kitchen, and a caretakers’ apartment – and the new classroom building allowed enrollment to grow. Construction was financed by the school’s first capital campaign, and U.S. Senator Philip A. Hart spoke at the dedication ceremony on December 4, 1960. The building was built in two stages, and the two-story portion was finished in 1962, seen here in a photograph by George Roeper.

1969, Expanding in Size

The school, now known as Roeper City and Country School, graduated its first class of seniors in June 1969. The rise in enrollment that came with extending the school through high school triggered a decade of expansion on the Bloomfield Hills campus: the Quad Building (1964); the Court Buildings (1966-1969; now gone); the Domes (1969); and the Duplex (1972). In addition, the original Trojan Horse, designed by Dick Cruger, was installed in October 1969. The Domes were designed to enhance Annemarie’s early childhood education program, but the experimental Styrofoam construction system from Dow Chemical triggered student protests because Dow also manufactured napalm used in the Vietnam War. The Domes were dedicated as the Martin Luther King Jr. Domes in May 1970.

1979, Changing Leadership

George Roeper retired in June 1979, and Annemarie Roeper retired in June 1980. The community held a gala retirement dinner for them in April 1980, seen here. They moved to California in 1983, where they traveled, spent time with family, continued their political activism, particularly for nuclear disarmament and human rights, and continued to contribute to the field of gifted education. George and Annemarie were major figures in advancing the idea that the complex emotional lives of gifted children defines them as much as their cognitive abilities.

1981, Opening a Second Campus

The school purchased the Adams School in Birmingham as a second campus in June 1981, and classes commenced in the fall after a summer of furious work. The move brought a change in organization, too. The school had consisted of a Lower School (grades 1-6) and Upper School (grades 7-12), but a Middle School for grades 6-8 was formed as part of the move and the Upper School became grades 9-12. The Adams School, built in 1921, had been a Birmingham elementary school until it closed in 1978.

1992, George A Roeper, 1910-1992

George Roeper died on August 24, 1992, at age 81. The Roepers had experienced a terrible loss in October 1991, when their house and everything in it burned in the Oakland Firestorm. George had been in ill health, and the trauma diminished his strength. A memorial service was held at Roeper on September 20, attended by almost 600 people and reported on extensively in local media. “Mr. Roeper seemed to push not at our cleverness, but at our souls,” observed eulogist Ruth Seymour ’72.

1993, Growing Strongly

The school changed its name to The Roeper School in 1993. While the school had experienced some challenges in the decade following the departures of the charismatic Roepers, the 1990s saw the start of a strong period of growth in enrollment, fund-raising, capital improvements and endowment. Capital campaigns led to a new theater and renovations in the Birmingham building (2001); the first new construction on the Bloomfield Hills campus in 30 years with the Steward Building and Swim Center (2003); the new Trojan Horse (2006); the Community Center Building with its tournament-quality gym (2007); and the Children’s Library (2012).

2012, Annemarie Roeper, 1918-2012

Annemarie Roeper passed away on May 11, 2012, at the age of 93. Annemarie had become a highly prominent figure in gifted education and made visits every year to the school to reconnect and share her knowledge. A memorial service was held at the school on August 25. “Annemarie was an enduring advocate for our need to be individuals while insisting on our intimate and inescapable interdependence with all other beings,” noted School Historian Marcia Ruff at the service.

2016, RoeperNext

The school kicked off its 75th anniversary celebration in May 2016 by breaking ground for the Dennis Naas Learning Commons in the Birmingham building. The Naas Commons opened in June 2017 and provides new space that fosters the engagement and interdependence that is at the core of our philosophy. Included in the space is a new café, the Jimmy and Vi Morris Kitchen, and a dedicated videoconferencing center, which connects students and faculty across the country in interactive seminars through the Malone Schools Online Network. Roeper is the only Michigan member of the Malone network.

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