Rosse, Rodney L. "Rod" age 77, of Brooklyn Park passed away September 13, 2014. Rod was born in Sydney, Nebraska the youngest son of James and Shirley Rosse. He grew up in Omaha. Rod enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1957, graduated from the Army Language School with proficiency in Chinese Mandarin, was stationed in Okinawa and along the DMZ in Korea, and received an honorable discharge in 1960. Rod graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 1962, and there met his future wife, Bette Jafek. Rod initially thought Bette was too young for him, but apparently changed his mind because they married in ten weeks time. Bette had decided on their first date that she would marry him, the first of many such fortunate choices she made for Rod. Their son, Scott, was born July 6, 1967 in Minneapolis, Minnesota where Rod and Bette had moved so that Rod could pursue a doctoral program in Educational Psychology. Scott was diagnosed with autism while still a young child. They both worked tirelessly to provide Scott with the skills necessary for a re-warding and fulfilling life. Part of this effort involved the creation of Alternatives for People with Autism in 1980. Rod was President and Founder of this organization which opened Shingle Creek Option in 1982, the first community-based home in Minnesota for adults who are severely disabled by autism. He earned his Ph.D in 1972, spending two years teaching at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. After teaching, Rod primarily worked in applied psychological research in both the public and private sectors, using his considerable statistical, psychometric, and software development skills along with his expert psychological knowledge. During his professional career, he was associated with Personnel Deci-sions, Inc., Personnel Decisions Research Institute, Pathmark, American Institutes for Research, and the Human Resources Research In-stitute. In addition, as part of Rod's work at Alternatives, he developed and patented CappsDATA, an integrated, real-time software system which supports the provision of in-dividualized, high quality human services. In later years, Rod voluntarily provided young doctoral candidates with statistical and methodological consultation and custom software necessary to complete their research, and assisted The Center for Victims of Torture in analyses of in-formation used to guide their work. He also had more time to devote to woodworking and astronomy, hobbies he especially enjoyed. Rod approached every aspect of life with intense curiosity and an eager-ness to enhance the opportunities of each individual. He brought to every activity, professional or volunteer, the same high levels of focus, excellence, and integrity. Rod is survived by his wife of 51 years Bette, son Scott, and many close friends and relatives. Visitation at 12:30 pm and memorial services at 1:30 pm on Thursday, September 18th at Evans-Nordby Funeral Home, 6000 Brooklyn Blvd., Brooklyn Center, MN. Memorials preferred for Alterna-tives for People with Autism, or the charity of your choice. Evans-Nordby 763-533-3000 evansnordby.com