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Thursday, February 20, 2003

By Byron Spice, Post-Gazette Science Editor

David A. Rossi Jr. was an unusual man who gave his alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, an unusual gift: a place aboard the space shuttle to perform experiments.

"It's perhaps the most unusual gift from a graduate that I have ever heard of," Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in 1998 when Mr. Rossi arranged the donation. "It's a wonderful gesture."

But as luck would have it, the experiments flew on the final, ill-fated flight of the shuttle Columbia. And to compound the tragedy, by the time Columbia broke up during re-entry Feb. 1, Mr. Rossi was dying of liver disease.

Mr. Rossi, 46, who once headed Spacehab Inc., the company that developed the laboratory that flew in the Columbia's cargo bay, died yesterday of cancer of the bile ducts and inflammation of the bile ducts. He lived in Washington, D.C.

"We feel it's really tragic when somebody with that sort of energy and vitality is taken away from us so early in life," said John Cooper, a chemistry professor and dean of the faculty and College of Arts and Sciences at Pitt. "We're going to miss him."

Mr. Rossi was a native of New Castle, Lawrence County, who earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Pitt in 1979. Though he went on to earn a master's degree in business administration at Harvard University in 1983, he was a firm supporter of the Pitt chemistry department and its undergraduate program in particular.

"In some people's minds, there are other things that are flashier" and more likely to garner alumni support than undergraduate chemistry, said George Bandik, director of undergraduate studies in the chemistry department. "He really believed in the undergraduate mission. ... He didn't forget the value of it."

Several years ago, he began a $1,000 chemistry scholarship at Pitt in the name of his parents, David and Rita Rossi. He even took the first recipient to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to watch a shuttle launch. On other occasions, he hosted other donors to the Pitt chemistry program at shuttle launches.

"It was a really unique experience that we were able to offer donors," Cooper said. "It was a statement that we have alumni who have been able to attain that level of success."

Mr. Rossi began his aerospace career while still in graduate school, interning at NASA's Johnson Space Center. He was one of the founders of Orbital Sciences Corp., which developed Pegasus, a rocket that was launched from under the wing of an airplane.

In 1991, he joined Spacehab. Originally senior vice president for business development, he was named president and chief executive officer in 1998.

The donated space aboard Spacehab was used for a pair of protein crystallization experiments by Pitt biologist John Rosenberg. In the microgravity of low Earth orbit, it is possible to grow protein crystals that are better ordered and thus have a structure that is easier to study back on Earth.

Rosenberg has conducted previous experiments involving the proteins -- one is involved in an important process known as protein folding and the other is an enzyme used for gene-splicing procedures. The crystal samples were lost with the rest of the shuttle.

"To be perfectly honest, I'm much more upset about the loss of life than the samples," Rosenberg said, explaining why he didn't want to say anything about the experiment in the aftermath of the Columbia tragedy.

His brother, Max, said Mr. Rossi grew sick in the summer of 2001, stepping down from his Spacehab post that October. He underwent liver surgery the following March. Efforts began at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to arrange a partial liver transplant from a relative or friend, but none was a suitable match. By the time a Washington hospital located a donor liver and prepared to operate in August 2002, surgeons discovered that his cancer had spread, making a transplant impossible.

In addition to his brother, who lives in Western Pennsylvania, Mr. Rossi is survived by his wife, Sandra; his parents, David and Rita, of Ashburn, Va.; and another brother, Marc, also of Ashburn. A memorial service is planned for March 1 in Washington, D.C.