How Kevin Roberson stumbled into a passion project at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park

Kevin Roberson is the president of Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, a nonprofit that encourages others to get involved with local parks. | Photo by Lauren Hines.

Story by Lauren Hines | Photo by Lauren Hines | April 3, 2021

In 2010, Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park was having trouble getting the public interested in Columbia’s park system. The nonprofit organization needed new leadership.

Kevin Roberson, senior director of quality systems at Eurofins, was invited to a meeting that same year by a close friend.

“They kind of surprised me,” Roberson said. “They asked me to come and talk to them about possibly being on the board, and before I walked out, they made me president of the board.”

For the past 11 years, Roberson has been using his expertise in biology, business acumen and love of nature to help the organization. With the Missouri State Parks’ season getting underway, things are about to get busy.

Since Roberson has been president, he and the organization have rebuilt the Hickam Cabin, brought solar electricity to Rock Bridge Mills and started youth outreach programs. The organization also works with Rock Bridge State Park staff to maintain park trails.

“I talked him into getting involved in Friends of Rock Bridge State Park,” said Dave Murphy, former Missouri conservation commissioner.

“Of course, I knew what kind of a capable leader and administrator he is, so almost immediately when he became the president of that outfit, he served very well in that role.”

Roberson enjoys getting away from the noise of the city. At Rock Bridge State Park, he can watch the animals, hike and hunt for wild mushrooms.

“I feel blessed that we live so close to the park, and (I) try and give back,” he said. “This is part of the reason I give back to the park through working on a board and volunteering to help with different projects.”

His love of nature started when he was very young.

“I just really see a through-line with his parents, and particularly, well his dad too, but really his mother in terms of respect for nature, conservation, loving outdoors, loving the garden, that sort of thing,” said Christine Roberson, Roberson’s wife and instructor at the Columbia Area Career Center.

“It was just because I got to know his folks for so long before they died that I can see so much of that rich family history embodied in so much of what he does right now.”

However, Roberson’s interest in nature — both plant and animal — fully emerged when he got his master’s degree in biology from MU in 1980. After graduating, Roberson went from St. Louis to Boulder, Colorado, to Plymouth, Minnesota, working in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2001, he and his family moved back to Columbia, and he now works at the product testing company Eurofins.

Roberson’s volunteer work is not limited to the local parks system. He is also a member of the Kansas City Committee for Pharmaceutical Technical Exchange Association. He and Jeff Gelwicks, his colleague on the committee, put on a conference each year to provide people in the Kansas City area who work in the pharmaceutical industry a chance to meet professionals from the Food and Drug Administration.

Gelwicks said the conference is to provide a less expensive and closer option for participants who would usually have to go to larger conferences on the East or West coasts for the same interactions.

“As people have changed jobs and moved to other parts of the country, we’ve actually seen them come back to the conference because it’s unique,” Gelwicks said. “Because it does allow a more personal conversation one-on-one with either the pharmaceutical industry or FDA inspectors and officials.”

After 10 years of barbecue dinners before each conference, Gelwicks has gotten to know Roberson professionally and personally.

“I would say he has that kind of balance of his work profile, his experience, and I think it’s coupled with his calm personality and outside interests,” Gelwicks said. “I find a lot of people, they work a lot or they achieve that right balance, and I think he’s someone that I’ve seen has that good balance.”

When Roberson isn’t working, he can be found taking care of his chickens on his farm or out in the park.

“We’re so lucky that basically Rock Bridge Memorial State Park is right in the city of Columbia,” Roberson said.

Roberson, 66, plans to retire in the next few years with his wife. They’re thinking of going to Europe and on local field trips. Until then, he’ll be taking care of his farm and family.

Originally published in the Columbia Missourian.