Stephen Rose February 29, 1940 – August 17, 2016
Stephen Douglas Rose, 76, of Madison, passed away on August 17 at Huntsville Hospital, of complications from leukemia. Steve was born February 29, 1940 in St. Joseph, Missouri. He moved to Kansas City in 1945, where he played football on the Wyandotte High School team and was active in the Physics club. He graduated from Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS in 1963 with a B.S. in Physics. He was a member of Beta Sigma Psi, a Lutheran men’s fraternity and went on to do graduate work there in Advanced Physics and Mathematics, later teaching Physics at Kansas City Community College.
In 1966, Steve began a career in aerospace as a nuclear energy process engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, AL. His work included initatives to develop state-of-the -art experiments to measure X-Ray radiation sources in space or from the Sun. As an electrical systems engineer, his work included electrical analysis in support of the integration of the Hubble Space Telescope with the Space Shuttle, and development of the space support equipment required for the on-orbit maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope. He served in roles of increasing responsibility, first as team leader and later as Branch Chief of the Avionics Systems Branch where many other important MSFC projects were supported. While at NASA, he received numerous awards for outstanding service performance. He retired from MSFC in 2004 and later worked with Alpha Technologies, Inc., where he participated in NASA’s Constellation program and other space experiments projects development.
He leaves behind his devoted wife , the former Barbara Miller, whom he married in 1984; brother, James, from Ankeny, Iowa; children, Julie Hawkins of Panama City Beach, FL, Dana Pearce of Denver, Co, Séan Perry of Madison, AL, and Brian Rose of Greenville, WI; 7 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Laughlin Service Funeral Home handled the arrangements. Visitation was at 10:00 a.m. and services at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, August 22 at the funeral home. Graveside service followed with family only.
