Joseph Linville “Joe” Rosson (December 7, 1919 – April 1, 1995)
 Joe Rosson and Noah Foreman |
 Bradley Bigelow and Joe Rosson |
 Donald Robb, Joe Rosson, Noah Foreman, and John Hardy |
 Joe Rosson |
Joe Rosson’s obituary appeared in the April 6, 1995 edition of The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN):
JOSEPH L. ROSSON, 75, of Memphis, retired professor at Cornell University, died of lung disease Saturday at St. Francis Hospital. Services were at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Anabel Taylor Chapel at Cornell University with entombment in Queen of Peace Mausoleum in Ithaca, N.Y. Bangs Funeral Home in Ithaca had charge. He was a commanding officer in the Navy during World War II, received his bachelor of science degree from University of Tennessee and his master’s from Cornell University. Mr. Rosson, the widower of Olive Smith Rosson, leaves a son, Michael Rosson of Brooklyn, N.Y. The family requests that any memorials be sent to the charity of the donor’s choice.
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FLOT/USS LCI(L)-11 Officers and Crew
Professor Rosson had a profound and positive impact on generations of electrical engineering students at Cornell. “Papa Joe” helped us get jobs and scholarships. He helped us get our priorities straight and wrote us recommendation letters. He advised and taught, did research and organized – plus he was passionate about the electric car team. His energy, enthusiasm and general ebullience were legendary. I write this thinking that his extended family would like to know that, among Cornell EE students of my generation, he will be long remembered.
Here’s a link to a very nice memorial written by his peers at Cornell: http://www.ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/18471
Sarah Thole Fischell
Cornell ’78
@Sarah Thole Fischell Thank you for the kind words about Professor Rosson. I greatly appreciate the link to the memorial. Take care, Sarah!
Professor Rosson was truly a great man. He was a consummate gentleman and an honorable man. He encouraged me many times to keep working hard and not give up. I ended up getting my Ph.D. at Cornell, largely with his support. Professor Rosson never liked to talk about WW2, but at my undergraduate graduation he found out my father and he had a common friend, Dr. Ben Eiseman, Chief of Surgery at the University of Colorado. It turns out Professor Rosson was the Captain of a support ship on D-Day off the coast of Omaha Beach. The wounded were being brought back to ship and Dr. Eiseman was performing emergency surgery below deck on the soldiers. Professor Rosson was such a good captain, he was able to steady the ship in those horrible seas, so the surgeons could operate. Seeing him smiling on his ship in these pictures 33 years later touched me deeply. My late father always visited him when he came to Cornell to see me. He and his generation are sorely missed.
Antonio Anselmo
Cornell B.Sc. 81, M.Eng. 82, Ph.D. 87
@Antonio Anselmo Thank you so much for posting the kind words about Professor Rosson. The story regarding the support ship off the coast of Omaha Beach is great. It sounds like he was a great man!