PEDRO V. ROIG, ESQ.

In Memoriam

Pedro V. Roig, Of Counsel to Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey, died on May 13, 2026. He was 85.

He was a lawyer, a historian, an educator, and an author. He left Cuba as a young man, joined Assault Brigade 2506, and fought at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. He earned his undergraduate and master of arts degrees at the University of Miami and his Juris Doctorate at St. Thomas University, and early in his career he was mentored by the Miami attorney Burton Young.

President George H.W. Bush appointed him to the National Advisory Board of Education in 1991, where he served four years. President George W. Bush appointed him Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio and Television Marti, in 2003. In 2011 he joined the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.

He wrote several books on Cuban history, among them Death of a Dream: History of Cuba’s Elusive Quest for Freedom and The Cuban War of Independence 1895-1898.

He spent his life arguing for human rights and individual liberty, in court and out of it. We were fortunate to practice alongside him.