Posted by Rick Hyde on June 18, 2009:

Rod was a good friend in H2 my cow and Firstie year. Rod was always upbeat and positive and had a great love of music, which tracked with his leading the Dialectic Society as a Firstie. Rod had a running battle with the Cadet Fine Arts Forum (controlled by the Academy) to have the Cadets maintain control of the rock concerts at Ike Hall and worked tirelessly to promote and bring in the best acts. Rod was always generous and kind. I remember my roommate Thadd Buzan was a huge Maynard Ferguson Fan, and lo and behold Maynard played USMA our Senior year. I was a huge Southside Johnny fan and they also played USMA our Firstie year, and I know neither of these were an accident. Rod's first love was flying and he was a top notch aviator who unfortunately hurt his back when some soldiers tossed him a maintenance tent out of the back of a truck on a field exercise. He was in the hospital for many weeks and medically retired shortly afterward. Rod took the lemon and made lemonade by heading to the Univ of Mich to get his law degree. In addition to practicing law, he was a leader in the Make a Wish charity in San Diego then moved back east to KC and then NJ to work in the pharmaceutical industry. I saw Rod at the 20th and met Renel and his baby daughter. He was much the same, positive, generous and just great to be around. He seemed to revel in his role as a husband and new dad. Thadd tells me he had become very active in his church in NJ, which does not surprise me since that was compatible with his basic spirit. We will miss you Rod, but will see you again.

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